Walking Through Despair
by Englasu
Summary: *Completed* A Kaiba fic. Seto's had a tough life and just can't take it anymore... But there may be help for him yet.
1. Kaiba's Pain

((*giggles evilly* POWER TO THE KAIBA! Ya, ok, this is our happy little fic about Seto, just FYI in my little fic Kaiba already got Mokuba and like Pegasus died or something ok? *takes an axe and cuts Pegasus' head off* See? All gone *evil grin* Oh yeah and one more thing, as far as I am concerned they all can drive, except Yugi and Mokuba! *laughs in their faces as they run off crying* Now here we go...))  
  
Disclaimer: *cries* I don't own ANYTHING!  
  
Seto Kaiba was sitting at his desk late one night while a storm boomed outside. He took a sip from his coffee and then went back to all his computer calculations and business funds, he was so engrossed that he didn't notice the little body coming into his office until two small hands pulled at his trench coat.  
  
"Big brother..."  
  
Kaiba turned from his work and looked at Mokuba, "What is it Mokuba?"  
  
"I can't sleep... lightning is scary." And as if on cue there was a flash and a rumbling sound. Mokuba jumped into Seto's lap and cringed.  
  
The older Kaiba patted the big mess and black hair and hugged his little brother, "Don't worry, thunder won't hurt you, it's just a sound..."  
  
Another flash and Mokuba cringed, "but it's still scary."  
  
Seto squeezed Mokuba and looked down at him, "Why don't you stay in here until the storm is over. Don't worry, nothing bad will happen." He smiled fondly down at his younger sibling who nodded and curled up into a little ball on Kaiba's lap. Seto went back to typing on his computer as the bundle sitting on him started to settle and finally fell into slumber.  
  
Kaiba glanced down at his brother and smiled one of his rare smiles before picking up the small form and carrying him back to his bedroom. Seto placed little Mokuba back in bed and tucked him in. "Sleep well..." and he walked out of the room and back into his office.  
  
Seto took another sip from his coffee and then started to type again before a huge flash of lightning made his computer screen flicker. He sighed exasperated and shut down the system. "No need to fry the thing..." He shoved his hands into his pockets before walking off to his bedroom down at the other end of the long hallway. He took of his coat and shoes and plopped them down on a chair. He walked over to his dresser and changed into his pajamas before collapsing on top of his bed. He looked up through one of the skylights at the raindrops collecting on the glass before falling to sleep...  
  
He woke up the next morning very early and got dressed before looking into Mokuba's room to make sure that his little brother was still sleeping soundly, and he was. So Seto walked downstairs and scribbled something on a piece of paper, which he left for the little one upstairs to read when he woke up. Then Kaiba went outside and started walking towards town. He didn't know why he even bothered, it's not like he had any reason to go to town, but he kept walking down the street and figured that he'd just get some candy for Mokuba or some thing and then come back.  
  
As he was walking down the road Kaiba heard someone cussing his head off around the corner and he went to see. There was Yugi and the gang all sitting by a car with a huge cloud of steam coming out of the front. Joey of course was kicking the car and having a spazz attack...  
  
"Shitty car! DRIVE!"  
  
Tea rolled her eyes; "Joey it's not like it's going to listen to you."  
  
Yugi nodded, "Come on Joey, just calm down."  
  
Joey just kept kicking the car and making it shake as another loud hiss cam from the engine and the cover slammed down on the car.  
  
"OW! Hey Joey cut it out! I'm trying to fix this thing and you kicking it won't help!" Tristan rubbed the back of his head and then opened up the lid again before vanishing into the steam.  
  
Kaiba watched their antics and smirked slightly before walking over to them with his hands shoved into his pockets.  
  
Yugi was the first one to notice him and he looked up, "Oh hey Kaiba!"  
  
Joey stopped kicking the car and stood rigid as he glared at Seto. Tristan peeked out from behind the hood and moaned before going back to trying to fix the handicapped vehicle. Tea just sat there on the ground and didn't even look at him with her arms folded. Yugi was the only face there that showed any signs of acceptance, and even his features expressed some dislike.  
  
Kaiba just ignored them and pulled out his cell phone. He said a couple of things and then shoved it back into his pocket. "A mechanic is gonna come fix your car..."  
  
Tea looked up at him with a curious look, "Why?"  
  
Kaiba chuckled dryly; "Even you can see that your car is busted."  
  
Joey held his arms up and started walking the other direction from where Kaiba had come from, "Whoa, I'm not gonna let some screwy guy that's working for Kaiba fix any car I'M riding in, he'll probably make it explode or something!"  
  
Tristan slammed the cover shut and ran to catch up with Joey, "I'm with you man." And he whispered to Joey, even though Seto could still hear him, "No telling what that crackpot will do."  
  
Yugi shrugged and got up, "I guess I'd better go with them, we don't them to get into trouble do we?" He looked down at Tea and smiled before walking towards Joey and Tristan.  
  
Then Tea stood up. Kaiba just inwardly groaned, he'd actually tried to do something nice and they all were just leaving, but to his surprise Tea just leaned up against the car and sighed heavily, "Well I guess I have to stay, one of us has to make sure you don't steal our car..."  
  
Seto mentally smiled; even if she didn't like him at least they all hadn't left. He went and leaned next to her on the car with arms folded. She looked at him, "Why are you still here?"  
  
"I'm waiting for the mechanic."  
  
"I can do that by myself."  
  
"Well... I have to make sure you don't steal my mechanic..." He smirked and gave her the slight hint of a glare.  
  
After waiting for a couple of minutes Kaiba looked at his watch, 9:06. Then both he and Tea sat there in total silence for a looooooong time. Kaiba looked at his watch again, 10:29. He then looked at Tea, "I'm gonna go back home, when he gets here he'll call and then we can come back..."  
  
She looked at him with frosty eyes, "What do you mean 'we'?"  
  
He shrugged, "I was just figuring you'd come back to Kaiba Corp with me, unless you like standing out in the rain all day..." ((Remember that? It's still raining!))  
  
Kaiba pulled out his cell phone again. Pushing a couple of buttons he muttered into it and then back into his trench coat it went.  
  
"I got someone to pick us up..."  
  
"Who said I'm coming?"  
  
"Fine. Then I got someone to pick ME up."  
  
"Your just gonna leave me here?"  
  
"I thought you didn't want to come."  
  
"I never said that."  
  
He sighed exasperated, "Are you coming or not?"  
  
"Maybe..."  
  
"Yes or no, if you are, then fine, if you aren't, then sit here and drown for all I care..."  
  
"Ok, ok, I'll come, no need to get in a huff."  
  
The limo ((Why not live in style if you can, hehe)) arrived shortly and they both got in. Kaiba sat on the right side and Tea sat as far away from him as possible in the left-hand corner. It only took a couple of minutes to get back to Kaiba's house.  
  
They both got out of the car and when they got inside Kaiba chucked his shoes and coat off and walked into the kitchen with Tea slowly following him.  
  
In the kitchen at the table sat Mokuba happily munching away at some cereal and he smiled when he saw Kaiba. "Hey Seto, did you have a nice walk?"  
  
Kaiba sat next to him and ruffled his hair affectionately and smiled, "I didn't get that far, found some stragglers on the side of the road." He took of sip from a mug of coffee ((Ya, he gets LOTSA coffee *evil grin*)).  
  
Tea walked in just then and little Mokuba smiled evilly at Kaiba, "You got a GIRLFRIEND!"  
  
Kaiba almost choked on his drink and started coughing before looking at his little brother, "Tea? I think all the sugar in that cereal is going to your head..." He ruffled the black hair again and then got up. He beckoned to Tea with his arm and led her into the living room/entertainment room; it really was too big to just be a living room. "You can just hang out here until I we hear from the mechanic, if you get hungry you saw the kitchen and-" His phone started ringing and he picked it up. "What? What d'ya mean the storms too bad to send anybody out here?! I don't care, get your lazy ass off that chair and pick up that car!" He snapped the phone shut and chucked it at one of the chairs so that it bounced off the cushion a couple of times but didn't break, "Shit..."  
  
Tea just looked at him feeling kind of uncomfortable, she still didn't like him but it was weird being in someone else house, especially a big one. Kaiba turned to look at her, "Your gonna have to stay the night..."  
  
She looked at him and blinked, "Wh-what?"  
  
He shrugged; "The people won't send anybody out, something 'bout the storm being too bad or something... Come on, I'll show you a room..." He walked off and she followed him into one of the rooms which came off of the same hallway his and Mokuba's bedrooms were in. He gestured his arm around, "Here ya go, the bathroom is down the hall, and ya... well, bye"  
  
Kaiba walked out of the room and into his bedroom. He went out on his balcony as the rain plowed down on him. Why did everyone hate him so much? Ok, so he wasn't the nicest guy in the world... but that was no reason to hate him? He peered over the edge of the balcony at the water below before walking inside dripping wet. He scribbled something on a piece of paper and left it on top of his dresser, it was just a note for Mokuba:  
  
  
  
Hey Mokuba,  
  
I know that you'll be alright, just remember that your big brother is always there for you no matter what, even if I'm not actually THERE I'll make sure that you're safe, don't worry. I'll miss you, and try not to grow up too fast...  
  
-Seto Kaiba  
  
Seto smirked and creased the letter in half. Then he went out to stand on the balcony again. Nobody cared about stupid Seto Kaiba, so why should he care about himself. The beginnings of tears began to swell up at the bottom of his eyes but he brushed them away with his sleeve. He climbed up onto the railing and looked down at the sharp rocks down bellow that the waves were crashing against. He sighed deeply and whispered to himself, "See ya Mokuba..." and just as he was about to lean out the door swung open behind him...  
  
  
  
Tea had walked into Kaiba's room to ask where the bathroom was, because she had forgotten when she saw the note lying on top of his dresser. She picked it up and read it before she looked out the glass doors to see Kaiba standing on the railing out in the pouring rain. Suddenly they purpose of the letter hit her smack in the face. CRAP! Kaiba was gonna jump! She swung the door open when Kaiba started to lean outward...  
  
Kaiba looked back and saw Tea standing there when he lost his balance. He started to fall but managed to barely grasp his hand onto the railing that his feet had just left. There's one other thing that rain does other than get things wet though, it makes them slippery, and Kaiba's hand wasn't doing too well at keeping it's grip on the wet stone. He looked down and saw the crashing waves. Well, guess this was it, no more Kaiba for the world. Seto was going to let go when Tea grabbed onto his arm and started trying to pull him up. Kaiba figured he might as well help her so he started to pull himself up with his other arm as soon as it could reach the railing as well.  
  
When Tea finally got Kaiba over the railing they both lay out on the cold stone balcony with the rain pounding down on them. Tea got up and dragged Kaiba inside with her and they both collapsed on the dry rug instead.  
  
She looked over at him and gasped between breaths, "What, were you doing, you idiot?"  
  
He just looked at her and smiled, speaking in the same halting pattern, "Just ridding, the world, of one less, ass hole..."  
  
They lay there for several minutes until they both caught their breath. Kaiba got up first and started to head for the balcony doors again when Tea yanked him back to the floor. Pinning him to the ground she spoke to him firmly, "You aren't going back out there Seto Kaiba, I'm not letting you kill yourself..."  
  
He looked away from her and whispered softly, "Why..."  
  
She yanked his head back so he was looking back at her again, "Because, no matter who you are, as long as you have a heart, you deserve to live. I know you might not like to admit it, but you have a heart. I saw you down there with Mokuba, you care about Mokuba, and Mokuba looks up to you. If you want to set the example for him that it's ok to kill yourself then don't expect it to be long before your brother joins you too. If that's what you really want for your little brother then you might as well die. But there's no reason for him to die Kaiba. There's no reason for you to die; there's just no reason!"  
  
Kaiba pushed her off and lay down on the couch. ((And yes he has a couch in his bedroom.)) She got up and walked over and knelt next to him so she was eye level with him. He looked at her, "You weren't supposed to care... Why'd you have to go and care, nobody would have cared, Mokuba would've been fine, our parents died and he dealt with that, so he could've dealt with me dying too. Shit, I SAW my parents die, he would've just gotten the note. But then YOU had to go and start caring... you weren't suppose to......"  
  
Tea had always thought of Kaiba as this pompous, arrogant, jerk who just loved to watch people squirm. But as she saw him lying on that couch at the lowest point that any human being could ever get, the point when they think life has no meaning, it finally became clear to her just how sweet he actually was. He voice softened and she held his hand, "Kaiba... it's ok to be upset, but that's no reason to give up hope... you just need to talk to other people and then it'll all seem better..."  
  
He sat up and smacked the couch cushion, "Who on earth am I gonna talk to?! The butler? Hmph! You just try living in my shoes for a couple of days and you'd see why killing myself was a good idea. Just like today, I get up this morning and go downstairs, it's all empty, I grab some breakfast and I'm walking to town for no damn reason, and then I find you guys getting soaked because your friggin car broke down. And when I try to do you guys a favor by calling a mechanic you all run away like I'm gonna kill you or something. And YOU stay, but only because you don't want me to STEAL the car! EVERYBODY hates me! EVERYBODY in the whole goddamn world HATES me!"  
  
Tea got up and sat next to him on the couch. She watched him lean back and look at the ceiling and then at her before she looked down at the hands in her lap and whispered, "I......don't hate you...."  
  
He leaned forward, "What?"  
  
She looked at him, "I don't hate you, Seto Kaiba, I don't hate you."  
  
He looked at her in disbelief, "You don't?"  
  
She stared straight into his eyes, "No Kaiba, I really don't. I mean you act like nothing bothers you, but you're really just a really sweet guy. You're just a sweet guy trying to get through life as best you can just like everybody else." She smiled, "Just look at Mokuba, you've practically raised him by yourself and he's turned out all right. You aren't as bad ass of a guy as you think you are..."  
  
Kaiba sat there blinking at her, "You think I'm....sweet?"  
  
She blushed and rubbed the back of her head, "Well... I guess so..."  
  
Kaiba got up and stood in the middle of the room looking down at the floor holding one hand behind his back, "Have a good sleep Tea." and he walked out of the room.  
  
Tea just sat there. Had she done something wrong? Why had he just left? Was it something she said? Of course, she didn't know, and she walked back into her room and dropped down onto her bed. She was dazed and confused but despite the constant questions in her head, she fell asleep.  
  
Kaiba on the other hand was far from sleeping. He sat in his office sipping coffee agitatedly. Why had it made him so uncomfortable that she said he was sweet? He should have been flattered. No one had ever said that to him before though. He wasn't sure whether to believe her or not, she could've been lying, just trying to make him feel good about himself like all the other mindless drones that he worked with always did. Of course it never worked, it just made him feel worse, worse knowing that there was nobody that really cared for him. But did Tea really care for him? He shook his head in frustration, of course not, nobody did, nobody could or would, they had no reason to.  
  
With that he started typing away at his computer trying to find something to work on. There had to be SOMETHING that was time consuming and required a lot of thought. But there wasn't. 'Stupid weekends, why did he always have to do everything so that the weekends would be free...' He banged his head down on his desk. Whack. He looked at the door to make sure nobody was coming. Whack, whack, whack. He looked up again. Whack, whack, whack, whack, whack, whack, WHACK! WHACK! He looked up at the door and figured it might be a good idea to shut the door. He got up and took a couple of steps towards the door. He wobbled from side to side as he walked but managed to swing the door closed. He started to go back to his desk, but it's kind of difficult to walk when the room is moving, at least that's what it looked like to him. He second thought going to his desk and was about to open the door again when the world suddenly started flickering in and out. His head decided it didn't want to be in though, and so..........it went out...............  
  
Tea woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. She stretched and got up. Pulling on her clothes on she started thinking about her dream. There she was sitting on Kaiba's couch with him again yesterday when he got up. But instead of leaving the room, in her dream he had gone over and gotten out a gun. When he pulled it out he had pointed it at his stomach and started shooting it into his gut. She had watched him wide eyed as the bullets tore into him and he fell to the floor dead. In the middle of the night she had woken up and hugged her pillow to her chest. It had taken her a while to get back to sleep, but she had, and now she was where she was now. She walked out of the room and downstairs to breakfast. She grabbed some cereals and was happily munching away when Kaiba came downstairs clutching at his head. He stuck his head into the fridge and pulled out a bowl of cold oatmeal and a fork. ((Yes he eats oatmeal with a fork))  
  
"Hi Kaiba."  
  
He batted his arm at her distractedly and wandered back upstairs. He went to sit on the couch in his room and took a couple of bites in his room. 'Shit my head hurts...' He put a hand against it again before taking another bite of his cold oatmeal. After slipping the fork out of his mouth he looked at it quizzically, and then he gave a little smirk. Raising the fork above his head he brought it down straight into his leg. His smile grew as the pain reached his nerves. He yanked the fork out and brought it down again into his thigh. 


	2. Breakfast

Tea wasn't going to leave Kaiba alone though. After she finished her breakfast she went up and knocked on Kaiba's door. He yanked the fork out of his leg and walked over to the door. He opened it slightly and looked down, expecting it to be Mokuba, but instead he saw himself staring straight down Tea's shirt. He jumped back awkwardly with his ears burning and shoved the fork into his mouth licking off the blood. She walked in and cocked and eyebrow at Kaiba. He pulled it out of his mouth and quickly recovered becoming his usual Kaiba self, "What do you want?"  
  
She looked at him plainly, "Why do you have a fork..." Her expression was blank and her tone was flat also as she stared down at Kaiba's leg with the blood seeping through the blue fabric.  
  
He threw the fork over onto the couch next to his bowl of oatmeal and folded his arms, "Just eating my oatmeal... What are you like my mother or something coming to check up on me?"  
  
Tea scowled at him and slapped him across the face. "You jerk! I just came to see what the news was about the guy coming for the car, but I might as well be checking up on you based on how well you take care of yourself. Look at you! Yesterday you tried jumping off a balcony and I come in today and your leg is all bloody! Look at yourself Kaiba! Your a WRECK!"  
  
Kaiba stumbled and fell back onto the floor. Great just what she needed, a headache to grow off his other one. She clutched at his brain and kicked out at Tea making her fall down to the ground as well. "What'd you do that for you bitch?!"  
  
Tea hadn't expected to come crashing down to the ground. She fell clumsily down next to Kaiba and crashed her head on the floor. "OW!" She rubbed at her head and glared at him. Why'd she even bother, this was still Kaiba, he didn't care about anybody. She shoved him against the floor and started smacking his face. "Kaiba, I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HAAAATE YOU!!!" One thing happened that she didn't expect to though, there was no fight against her...  
  
Tea stopped slapping him and say that he COULDN'T fight back. Kaiba had gone unconscious. "Ooooooh, oooooooh, oooooooooooohhh....." She moaned and tapped Kaiba's face lightly, "Come on Kaiba, get up. Get up Kaiba. GET UP!" She leaned her head on his chest just to make sure he was breathing and alive, he was. Then she pulled him up and hugged him to her rocking back and forth as her anxiety attack set in. "Stop faking it Kaiba, I know your awake, come on, COME ON!"  
  
Kaiba's world spun as colors flashed before his eyes and it went dark. Sitting up in his dream world he looked around at the black expanse surrounding him. 'Am I dead?' He faintly heard Tea's callings in the background and stood up. 'Hmph! NOW she cares about me...' He shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking as the clacking of his shoes echoed around him. He looked up and saw a flickering image of Tea appear in his view as her voice seemed to come out of the walls when she spoke, "I can save you Kaiba, you just gotta let me in... you just have to open the door a little........." Her image faded along with her voice as it drifted off into the background.  
  
He sat down on the ground and glanced around him. Why was this place so dark? He saw one little patch of light off in the distance and a picture of Mokuba flashed into his mind. He smiled and took out the picture case from inside his shirt. Clicking it open he looked at the face of his dear little brother. Memories started flashing into his mind. Pushing Mokuba on the swing, pinning him to the ground and tickling him, the whole big brother bonding bit. The picture frame began to glow and act like a sort of flashlight, but then more images flickered into his mind, fighting those guys who were beating up on Mokuba, his parents dieing, the other orphanage kids excluding him and acting like he wasn't even there when he talked to them, being alone...... that last thought echoed in his mind. Alone.......... even with Mokuba they didn't talk a lot, Kaiba had successfully managed to bury himself from all emotions in work. If he got angry? Hack some systems. If he was sad? Make a new program. If he was frustrated? Push the buttons down REALLY hard. Computers couldn't hurt you, they didn't have feelings, they didn't have hearts. They were just computers, cold, boring... safe.  
  
Then he saw Tea, when he had first met her in his duel with Yugi. She had been so loyal, and so confident that friendship would fix everything. He didn't believe in that... did he? No, friends were for the weak, friends were for those who liked to feel pain, for those who liked to have their hearts torn out and cut up into tiny pieces. No, he didn't need friends, he didn't need anybody...  
  
"KAIBA! KAIBA!!!!"  
  
The world faded around him and he found himself staring at a crying Tea who was screaming in his face.  
  
He put his hands over his ears to drown out her deafening shouts, "What?"  
  
She screamed with joy and hugged him. Kaiba blinked as his face turned red. Why? He didn't know, but he didn't push Tea off. She started sobbing into his shirt as her whole body quivered, "I thought I'd lost you, you kept muttering something about 'I don't need it, I don't need it.' I thought you were dying!" She squeezed him tighter as the tears seeped through his shirt.  
  
Kaiba brought his arms down and rubbed her back and spoke somewhat awkwardly, "It's ok Tea, I'm still here... no need to worry... it's ok..." Was he comforting her? Well... yeah, he didn't know exactly why, but he was... Then a weird thing happened to Kaiba, he started to cry. Tears tickled down his cheeks as he continued rubbing Tea's back, "It's ok... I'm here for you..." 


	3. First Tears

His chest heaved as more droplets poured out of his eyes that had been dry for so long. He didn't know why he was crying now... not now of all times, he didn't know. But he felt like he couldn't stop, there was just so much that had happened to him and not a single tear had fallen out then. Everything came back to him in a flood and it was coming out of his eyes.  
  
Tea felt droplets fall on her shoulder and Kaiba squeezing her closer. It was ok though, she didn't mind that the two of them were crushing each other, she'd been so close to loosing someone she loved. Stop! Rewind! Love? Whoa! Since when did that word match up with Kaiba? It took her a few seconds to process, but yeah, she did...  
  
She stopped hugging him and looked at the red streaming eyes staring back at her. They seemed so full of sorrow. Before they had just been these walls, these flat concrete walls that no one on earth could penetrate, but as the tears flowed out of them it seemed liked you could go back inside his mind forever. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her forehead against his. She smiled and rubbed noses with him before whispering, "Don't worry Seto."  
  
For some reason those words hit him like a brick bringing him back to reality. He shoved himself away from Tea and hurriedly backed up rubbing his eyes with the backs of his sleeves. What are you doing? You just hugged Tea! Do you LIKE pain?! Just run away Seto, run away. Go back to your computer, that's where you're safe.  
  
Kaiba got off the floor and walked out of his office just like nothing had happened leaving Tea, again, sitting there bewildered in his bedroom. Mokuba was standing at the top of the stairwell and looked at his brother, "Are you ok Seto?" Kaiba just walked past him and slammed the door to his office.  
  
He looked at his laptop sitting on the table and sat down in front of it. He started typing something, ANY thing, random computer formulas, hacking codes, passwords, just anything that came into his mind to get away from the thoughts he was having. He clicked on his e-mail box and looked though all of them. Meetings on Monday, meetings on Wednesday, meetings on Thursday, Mechanic at two today, meetings on Friday... He stopped, and went back to the later, mechanic at two? Another mental brick fell on his head. Oh yeah, the car... He glanced over at the clock, one thirty. Leaning back in his chair he stared at the computer screen. Every letter 'T' that he had typed seemed to add onto itself the letters 'ea'. He smacked his computer screen. 'Now you're turning on me too? Great...just great...' he got up and went back into his bedroom where Tea had moved to sit on the couch.  
  
Kaiba pointed towards the door, "The guy is coming for your car at two. You'd better get down there."  
  
Tea opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her, "You don't want to miss him..." and then he walked over to his bed and fell on it. Tea got up and walked out the door looking back one last time to see Kaiba spread out face down on top of his bed. She sighed and walked straight out of the house.  
  
It took her about ten minutes to get to the car and there was the guy hooking it up to a tow truck. The rain had finally stopped, and the sun had started to dry to soaked ground. The mechanic gave Tea a ride to the shop where he fixed the car and left her on her way. She drove over to Yugi's shop to hang out with the gang and report that the car was all back to normal. They hung out in the shop and basically had a good time as things started to go back to normal for Tea.  
  
Kaiba on the other hand spent the rest of the day sulking in his office. He made more work for himself, typing up programs, trying to fix problems... he just needed something to do. Once it got kind of late he plopped down on his bed and went to sleep.  
  
((Ok, ok, so it's kinda short... Next one will be longer, dun worry, be happy.)) 


	4. Mistakes

Kaiba had gotten up the next morning and drove to town. After all it had worked SO well the last time. He still didn't have a reason for going, it was just for the sake of going somewhere...  
  
He parked and walked into one of the burger shacks that people seemed to like so much. He just went and sat in a secluded corner looking at all the people coming in and out ordering their greasy beef products while he got a cup of coffee in one of those nice Styrofoam cups they always give out. One group of people that came in gave him a special interest. Of course it just HAD to be Yugi and all his friends coming into THIS deli on THIS day... awe well, can't do anything about it now. So he just sat and watched them go sit at a table and joke with each other.  
  
Kaiba couldn't hear what they were saying, so he just watched body language and their expressions. Tristan and Joey were, as usual, beating up on one another while Yugi talked to Tea. She was laughing at almost everything the little monster was saying and smiling like crazy at the little dwarf... oh how much Kaiba wanted to go over there and wring his neck out. He didn't know especially why, but he did, he really did.  
  
A pain suddenly went through his hand and he looked down. Well, so much for his coffee... He had accidentally crushed the thing and the hot liquid was burning his hand. This was a good sort of pain though. He looked up at Tea. THAT wasn't. He retreated back into the recesses of his mind. 'This is why you don't need anybody Kaiba. They're all out to get you, they all want to hurt you. Why were you stupid enough to even THINK about getting close to one of them. Your such an idiot Kaiba, a stupid, stupid idiot...'  
  
Leaving his coffee dripping all over the table he quickly got up and left the restaurant. Tea saw him leave and looked at him curiously as he stomped out. What was Kaiba doing here? She shrugged. Nothing to worry about, he probably just got something to eat and finished. And so she went back to talking with Yugi in her friendly way. Little did she know that he had seen her being friendly, as being flirty...  
  
**********************  
  
Kaiba had left the restaurant with a hot head, and it was far from cooling down. He slammed his car door and screeched off towards home. When he got there he stomped through the kitchen grabbing a knife and was about to go upstairs when he saw Mokuba staring at him from the table...  
  
"Hey Seto."  
  
"Hey Mokuba..."  
  
"Whatcha doin?"  
  
Kaiba looked around him frantically and picked up and apple before heading towards the stairs, "Just getting some fruit... see ya." He ran up the stairs and went to sit in his room. He chucked the apple and watched it smash into the wall with satisfaction. The apple had felt pain, now it was his turn. He picked up the knife and rolled up his sleeve staring at his arm. Pain was what he lived with, he'd become accustomed to it, it was always the same, it hurts then goes away, always true, pain was his friend...  
  
******************  
  
School was the next day as usual. Tea moaned as she walked into class. 'Monday...' She went and plopped down in her seat behind Joey and Yugi and slouched over her desk. Another day of boring school. She watched everyone coming into class and file into their seats. Most were sulking about the day just like Tea was. The last person to come into the room was Kaiba. She looked him over, despite how indifferent she may have seemed, she was still worried that Kaiba was hurting himself more. She looked at his leg, no blood... probably got a Band-Aid or something by now. She looked at his face, he had a bruise on his cheek, 'Probably from when I slapped him.' she admitted weakly. The rest of him looked fine, the thing that bugged her was how that he wasn't moving his arms that much. They just seemed to hang by his sides as he tried to avoid anyone from touching them. Tea didn't have much time to wonder about this before the bell rang and class began.  
  
At lunchtime Tea sat with Yugi and everyone, but she tried to keep a close look on Kaiba. He went and sat in the very corner all by himself. He had a lunch but he just chucked it into the trash without even opening it. Telling the guys she'd be right back Tea headed over to where Kaiba was sitting.  
  
"So what's up Kaiba?"  
  
He just looked at her blankly.  
  
"Anything wrong?"  
  
"......."  
  
"Do you mind if I sit here?"  
  
"........."  
  
"Uh, thanks for getting the car and stuff..."  
  
"........."  
  
"Hey come on, you can at least talk to me." She placed her hand on his shoulder and watched him wince before he looked away from her and muttered under his breath.  
  
"Go away..."  
  
"What'd I do?"  
  
"Just go away..." He turned his head and glared at her hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Come on Kaiba... What'd I do?" She took her hand off and cocked her head to the side.  
  
"Just leave..."  
  
Tea was starting to get annoyed with Kaiba. "Oh come on. It can't be THAT bad, whatever it is. Come on, come sit with the rest of the gang..." She grabbed his arms and started to yank him up. Tea looked at him worriedly when it seemed he was grimacing in pain. She let go of his arms and look at his sleeves where she had been grabbing. There were dark stains where her hands had been but Kaiba quickly pulled them under the table. Tea wasn't going to let him get away that easy though. She pulled one of his arms back on top of the table and pulled up his sleeve before shrieking, "OH MY GOD KAIBA! WHAT'D YOU DO?"  
  
He yanked his arm back and covered it again. Darting his glance around to see everyone staring at him and Tea. Why'd she have to shout like that? He stood and walked out in the silence that followed without looking at anyone.  
  
The room started to go back to normal as Tea went and sat with Yugi again. All her friends stared at her. Joey's curiosity got the better of him and he was the first to speak, "What was it Tea?"  
  
She blinked at him before speaking shakily, "Oh... oh, nothing..."  
  
Yugi cocked and eyebrow at her. This was so unlike Tea, why wasn't she telling them? He shrugged it off and went back to eating his sandwich. He'd ask Tea about it after school...  
  
***********  
  
Kaiba hadn't wanted Tea to see his arms. So there were a few, ok, maybe a lot... of little cuts on his arm. Well, maybe not so little either... but that was still no reason to go shouting about it! He yanked down his sleeve and winced as the gashes open and shut with each movement. Pain was a good thing though, he needed pain... He pulled up his sleeve slightly and looked at one of the many X's that he had made with that knife he had had. Well... at least he hadn't cut his wrists... if you wanted to be optimistic about it. He looked at the blood seeping out and covered the cut with his shirt sleeve again.  
  
He continued walking until he got to his car. He opened the door and grunted slightly, any movement of his arms was painful. As he got in the car and started driving home a smile grew onto his face. Maybe Kaiba was just going insane, his arms were killing him, his leg felt like heck, he still had a REALLY bad headache, what else could go wrong? Things couldn't possibly get any worse... of course, as always, whenever anybody in the entire history of anything says that... things get worse. And of course, Kaiba was no exception.  
  
Just as Kaiba was pulling out onto the road on his way home after deciding quite plainly to ditch the rest of school the almighty hand of Murphy ((ya know, Murphy's law right?)) came down to play with little Kaiba.  
  
Beep! Beep! Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech! CRUNCH! 


	5. The Magic Mushroom

Those were the sounds Kaiba heard. He had been so preoccupied with his own thoughts that the fact that there were other people in other cars didn't occur to him until it was too late. He felt a sudden jolt go through his body as the middle of his car caved in under the impact of the other vehicle which had planted itself there. Kaiba's head screamed and the last image that flickered through his mind was the front end of a car ramming into him...  
  
***************  
  
"Kaiba? Kaiba? Kaiba, wake up."  
  
He opened his eyes to see Tea kneeling over him. He looked around and blinked at the surrounding scenery. He was in the dark again, he was back in that black void where there was no light, lying on the ground. Tea was leaning over him with a white line shining around her. Kaiba stared at himself, nothing, just the same blackness as the ground. He looked up at her and smiled. 'Ok, I've officially gone off the deep end, might as well enjoy it.' He sat up and looked at the glowing girl in front of him.  
  
"Hello Tea, how nice of you to join me."  
  
"It's nice to see you Kaiba, I missed you."  
  
"And of course I missed you too." With this he smirked, he had absolutely no idea what he was doing or why. But hey, if you were dead, might as well die happy.  
  
The dream Tea, or whatever she was, cocked and eyebrow at him. "I don't think you're being sincere."  
  
"Why on earth would I do that dear Tea. I haven't seen you for ages and we have so much to catch up on. Did you know that it was raining yesterday? Quite pleasant actually, a good day for sleeping..." He laughed at himself in his brain, 'Ya, I'm on coke, speed, acid, whatever... I might as well look around while I'm in Alice's Wonderland...'  
  
"Why not eat the magic mushroom when it's given to you." Kaiba smiled foolishly at Tea and laughed. "Oh come on Tea, we have to play crochet with the Queen, don't want her chopping off her heads now do we..." He waggled a finger at her and started walking off into the dark expanses. He looked back and motioned for her to follow him, "Oh, come on you silly goose..." He went back and grabbed her arm before he started skipping off, dragging her behind him.  
  
Kaiba skipped right into a white room and saw Tea standing over him just like when he had woken up in the dark room. This time he was sitting on a bed with white sheets over him. Following closely behind Tea were Yugi and Joey. Kaiba grinned his maniacal grin and jumped out of bed. He grabbed Tea's head and gave her a long kiss. Then he ruffled Yugi's hair, and patted Joey on the back while before walking out of the room and saying to them in a sing song way, "Make sure the roses are red, or the queen will have your head..." and with that he strode down the white hall passing other doors with white rooms. He looked into them and saw lots of beds and people and other people who looked like nurses looking over them. Suddenly, he stopped. 'Shit...' One horrible fact crammed itself into Kaiba's head. This, this part with the white rooms, this wasn't a dream. He was in the hospital. He looked down at his legs and saw them covered in blood with his pants torn into shreds and a screaming pain entered to his nervous system. His head all of a sudden felt light headed as one thoroughly confused Kaiba crashed to the floor.  
  
Back in the first room Kaiba had left three VERY disturbed people. Tea was sitting there in shock. Kaiba had just kissed her? KAIBA? KAIBA had kissed HER? Yugi was thinking that something terrible had happened to Kaiba's head in the car crash and Joey? Well... Joey actually felt like beating the crap outta Kaiba for acting so doped up, but that's Joey for ya...  
  
Tea had come running out after Kaiba once lunch was done. She noticed that his car was gone, since she had parked next to it this morning, and so she ran out to the gate to see if she could find him. And there he was... Kaiba was hanging out of his window, unconscious, while someone who was in the car that was rammed into Kaiba's was cussing his head off. Tea had run over to the scene and looked at Kaiba, there she had a spazz attack of total screamage. Yugi had followed after he heard the scream, and of course Joey tagged along. Tristan went inside to tell the teacher where other people were going since he might get suspicious when everybody wasn't coming back to class... Yugi tried to calm Tea down while Joey bolted to the pay phone and called an ambulance.  
  
They all had followed the ambulance to the hospital. The accident hadn't caused any permanent damage to Kaiba, but his legs had been torn to pieces from the crash. It really had surprised all of them when he just jumped out of the bed happy as a clam and bounced out of the room like nothing happened. Shortly after he had abandoned them they all went out in the hall and there was Kaiba again laying unconscious on the floor. They picked him up and pulled him back onto the bed waiting for him to come back into reality again.  
  
Kaiba woke up with a very bad headache and very angry subconscious. Why had he done that? He should've just stayed his normal self and not assumed he was dead. STUPID Kaiba! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! His eyes flickered opened wearily as he looked at the three people sitting next to his bed. The throbbing in his legs hit him like a hammer, why he hadn't noticed it the first time he woke up was beyond him, how he had been able to walk was beyond him... He tried to ignore the pain and glared at the people surrounding him.  
  
"What are you doing here?" That was his very flat menacing question.  
  
Tea inwardly chuckled, no matter what happened Kaiba always managed to recompose himself to be the same brick wall he always was. She sat down next to him on his bed and waggled a finger at him. "You know Kaiba, it's a bad idea to get smashed in by oncoming traffic."  
  
He glared at her and batted her hand aside. "Do you think I didn't know that?" Was the flat reply.  
  
She shrugged, "Well I didn't know since you were the one who got into an accident while coming out of the school parking lot..."  
  
Kaiba started to get up, but he was roughly shoved back down by Tea. "You aren't going to be doing that to us again. You're staying right in this bed."  
  
Kaiba so wanted to kill her. He wanted to grab her neck and strangle her to death. He dug his fingernails into the palms of his hand and bore holes through Tea with his eyes. "Get me out of here."  
  
She grinned evilly, who knew Tea had such a mischievous streak in her, "No, I don't think so. I mean, you haven't even said so much as a 'thank you' for us calling an ambulance for you. We might as well just leave you in here with the wonderful hospital food until they say you can go."  
  
He looked away from her and muttered something under his breath. Tea looked at him innocently, "Hm? What was that?"  
  
He glared up at her, "Thank you, alright!"  
  
Her finger came up again and waggled in his face, "Now no need to get all huffy about it. But since you were nice I'll go see what I can do." With that she hopped up and walked out of the room. 


	6. Kaiba's House

Joey and Yugi had just been sitting there in bewildered silence as they watched Tea taunting Kaiba. Was she insane? Or was she actually teasing him? They continued sitting in their chairs just staring at Kaiba. Yugi looked aimlessly around the room trying to think about what Tea was thinking. Joey was blinking and staring at the young executive sitting in the hospital bed as he was thoroughly confused. Kaiba just stared back daggers at the both of them. He knew they didn't like him, and he didn't like them either. They were only here in the first place because of Tea...  
  
Speaking of which, she was talking to Kaiba's doctor about getting him out of the hospital. She knew why Kaiba hated the hospital so much, he hated people fussing over him, he liked his solitude. She'd noticed this when she had been at his house. He was always running up to his room, or up to his office, he never hung around with people for very long unless he had to. She knew it would've been pure torture for Kaiba to be stuck in a bed for a couple of weeks with people checking in on him all the time.  
  
It had taken a lot of convincing before the doctor would let Kaiba leave. Tea promised that somebody would take care of him 24-7 and that he would just be sitting in the bed like he was now. The doctor agreed, however reluctantly, and gave Tea a wheel chair to take Kaiba with.  
  
Tea walked into the room pushing the wheel chair in front of her. Kaiba's eyes bugged out of his head as his right eye began to twitch.  
  
"I am NOT riding in that!"  
  
Tea grinned evilly at him, "Yes you are Kaiba."  
  
Tea pulled Joey up, "I'll take his feet, you take his arms..." and they both latched onto a struggling Kaiba. He tried kicking and punching, but his legs weren't of much use and Joey had pinned his arms behind his back so all he could do was squirm. Joey and Tea didn't take long getting the CEO into the wheel chair.  
  
Tea started pushing him out of the room, but Kaiba grabbed onto either side of the door frame. He didn't want to go, it was too embarrassing to be pushed around in a wheel chair. It was bad enough having people hanging over him, but not being able to walk and go unnoticed, that was humiliating. Tea wouldn't let him stay in the room though, but he didn't want to stay there either... Joey pried his fingers off of the door and Tea quickly pushed him through. 'At least there aren't that many people are hospitals...' But Kaiba was wrong... As soon as they got into the waiting room there were a TON of people. Kaiba closed his eyes and groaned, 'I want to die, I want to curl up and die, right here, right now...'  
  
Kaiba's torture didn't last that long though. After he was out of the actual hospital he still had to go through being pushed down the street. Luckily for Kaiba it didn't take that long to get to his house. Tea and Joey grabbed him up again and took him upstairs into his bedroom. He still wasn't happy with being carried. Part way up the stairs he managed to get them to drop him. He had started crawling up away from them when they locked onto him again. Kaiba got them to drop him again once they got to the top of the staircase. This time he managed to get up and limp into his office. He ignored the throbbing in his legs, he just wanted to get away from these people. Once he got into his office he locked the door and collapsed to the floor leaning against the door with his head spinning. So he wasn't quite ready to do any big movement, but he didn't want people taking care of him...  
  
When Kaiba had run off Tea told Yugi to go call Tristan and tell him where they were. Joey had started banging on the door and shouting, "Come on Kaiba, get you ass out here!"  
  
Tea pulled Joey away from the door, "Come on Joey, leave Kaiba alone..."  
  
Joey turned to look at her and then shoved his hands in his pockets before walking off, "Fine Tea, leave him to take care of himself. Not like I care... heh, I'm goin' home."  
  
Yugi came up a couple of minutes later, "Hey Tea, Tristan told me that grandpa needs some help at the shop. I'm gonna go..." Then he ran back downstairs and out the door.  
  
That left Tea standing in front of the door. She knocked on it lightly, "Kaiba?"  
  
An agitated reply came from behind the door, "What do you want?"  
  
"Are you going to come out of there?"  
  
"........No."  
  
She crossed her arms and stared at the door. Why was Kaiba being so childish? He should just let people help him... She tapped on the door again, "Are you gonna let me in there?"  
  
"...............No."  
  
She banged the door with her fist this time, "Kaiba, you jerk, get out here!"  
  
Kaiba crawled to the side and opened the door an inch, "Go away..."  
  
Seeing her window of opportunity Tea ripped the door open and grabbed Kaiba's shirt and started dragging him down the hall, "Kaiba, your going to bed...NOW!"  
  
Kicking and screaming death threats Kaiba was dragged down the hall into his room. Maybe he was acting immature, but he just wanted people to LEAVE HIM ALONE!  
  
Tea had managed to shove him onto his bed and was half tempted to tie him down, but once he got there Kaiba just folded his arms and glared at her. She went over to his desk and pulled out some scissors. He looked around the room, acting like he wasn't worried..."What are you gonna do with those?"  
  
She didn't say anything, she just sat next to Kaiba and lifted his leg onto her lap. He eyed her warily but she just put the scissors near his legs and opened them. As soon as she did that Kaiba yanked both his legs up to his chest and backed up against the headboard.  
  
"What are you doing?!"  
  
Tea yanked his leg back down, none to gently I might add, and she opened the scissors again. With a wary Kaiba staring at her she started snipping off his torn pants right above the knee. He sat there patiently with his eyes glaring at anything except his torn limbs.  
  
After Tea was done she took the spare cloth and chucked it into the wastebasket. She looked at Kaiba's legs with the deep gashes in them from his car door cutting into him when it was smashed and she shook her head. Taking out the first aid kit Tea got some tissues and ran into the bathroom to get them wet. She came back and started cleaning off Kaiba's legs patiently. He didn't say anything, just sat there with his arms folded. Tea got out bandages and started wrapping them around his legs. With the added pressure Tea could feel Kaiba tensing up but he didn't say anything so Tea just kept wrapping until she was done with both legs.  
  
Kaiba didn't know why he was tolerating this, but he was, and he just sat there while Tea bandaged him up. After she was done Kaiba watched her start to leave the room and he looked out the window, "Uh... thanks Tea..."  
  
She looked back at him a little surprised and then smiled, "No problem."  
  
Tea was about to leave again and turned to face the door when a sudden mental string pulled at her. Turning back to face Kaiba she went back over to sit on his bed next to him and she smiled as he looked at her, "Well, ya know Kaiba... since you probably aren't going to be up and about that much for a while... I was just wondering if, well... you might want me to... stay with you... just to make sure your alright and everything..."  
  
Kaiba blinked at her surprised, "Well, I guess you could, if you really want to. There's no reason why you couldn't..." 


	7. Sleeping Kaiba

That afternoon Tea ran over to her house and grabbed a suitcase which she filled with cloths and all that other stuff you need when going on a week or more long vacation. She then went back to Kaiba's house and dumped all the stuff into the room she had stayed in that one night prior the car accident.  
  
Tea didn't know why she felt like she had to take care of Kaiba. He hadn't really shown that much kindness to her in the past, but she still wanted to make sure he was alright.  
  
Once she had put all her things into her new room she went back into Kaiba's room to check up on him. While she had been gone it seemed that he had fallen asleep. She smiled, he looked so helpless when he was sleeping, not the same person who was out to get you all the time like he normally acted. Tea walked over to his bed and pulled the blankets up over him. She smiled and placed her hand on his forehead, he felt a little hot so she went and got a wet washcloth out of the bathroom. She put it on top of his head and looked down upon Kaiba, why did she feel so comfortable around him? She never felt like she could be this close to him when he was awake, but when he was asleep... she didn't mind it at all, she actually kinda liked it...  
  
She was leaning inches away from his face when his eyes started to flicker open. Tea pulled herself away and glanced around the room idly as Kaiba's eyes popped open. He looked up at her, "Hello Tea..." He put a hand on his forehead and felt the washcloth. He took it off and stared at it, then Tea, "Did you get this?"  
  
Tea peered down at Kaiba and smirked, "Yeah, you seemed a little warm so I thought it might be a good idea to cool you down a bit."  
  
Kaiba smiled slightly and closed his eyes again, "Thanks..." 'Tea is sure being nice to me. I wonder why. It is kind of nice though...' And so Kaiba drifted off into sleep...  
  
Tea patted the cloth down onto Kaiba's forehead again before she went into her room to get a book. She went back to Kaiba's room after that and sat down to read on the couch. She sat there reading for about half and hour when she started hearing noises from across the room. Tea looked over and saw Kaiba kicking in his bed. He was writhing in his sheets and she saw that he had started sweating. She got up and on her way over to him she heard him start talking...  
  
"Mom! Dad! Stop!"  
  
Tea stopped walking and watched Kaiba as he continued kicking and clawing at the air.  
  
  
  
"Mom! Dad! Come back! Don't go!"  
  
Tea didn't know what to do. She didn't know whether to wake him up or let him continue with his dream, or nightmare the way it seemed to be going...  
  
"Wake up Dad! Come on! Mom?! Don't die! Don't leave me!"  
  
Kaiba had grabbed the blankets and was pulling at them as he groaned and whined in his dreams. His breath had started getting faster as his dream continued and Tea decided that it was time to wake him up. She sat down next to him on his bed and grabbing his shoulders she started shaking him.  
  
"Kaiba? Kaiba, it's time to get up..."  
  
But Kaiba continued squirming and his body started quivering. Tea started to panic a little bit, "Kaiba, wake up."  
  
He started shaking his head, "No. NO. NO! NO!!!"  
  
Tea pulled him up and shook him again. "Kaiba, get up!"  
  
He didn't wake up though, he just kept shaking as his breathed rapidly.  
  
Tea was worried. She shook Kaiba harder and hugged him to her. "Come on Kaiba, you can get up..."  
  
Kaiba woke up in Tea's arms. He felt her soft hair against his cheek and took a deep breath as his system started to calm itself down. He reached his arms around Tea's body and squeezed her close to him. He needed to be close to somebody right now, he'd dreamed that his parents had died in front of him again. He'd tried to wake them up, but it didn't work, they were gone, he couldn't save them. He hugged Tea even closer to him as if she could somehow make it all go away, as if she could somehow make it all better...  
  
Tea felt Kaiba clinging to her and smiled. This was the softer side of Kaiba, she liked it. Taking his head in her hands she pulled him away so she was looking into his deep blue eyes. Stroking the sides of his head gently she stared into his glossy pools. The two of them sat there on the bed for several minutes just staring and clinging to each other until Kaiba looked away. Tea dropped her arms and started fiddling with he hands agitatedly. "Um... well... I'd better be going... Got homework to do..." She started backing up and walking out the door. 'I've done something wrong. I've SO done something wrong. What was I thinking? You're such an idiot Tea!' She went into her room mentally beating herself as she pulled out her back pack and busily worked on her homework.  
  
**********************  
  
The next day Tea dragged through the next day of school. She didn't talk that much with Yugi or the rest of the gang. Her thoughts were too distracted, thinking about Kaiba in fact, and as the bell rang she went up to the teacher and asked for two copies of the homework for the next month. The teacher looked at her and asked why. She simply explained how she was going to be taking care of Kaiba until his legs got better and the doctors had said it would be a month. The teacher shrugged and gave her a bunch of papers and also handed her another paper with a list of pages to read. Then Tea ran to her locker and grabbed all the books she was going to need before she went over to Kaiba's house.  
  
Peeking into Kaiba's room she smiled slightly. He was sleeping again. 'I guess healing takes a lot of energy out of you...' She walked in unafraid knowing that the almighty Kaiba wouldn't bite her head off when he was asleep. She pulled his covers off and looked at the bandages she had put on yesterday. By now they had been stained with blood. Tea cringed a little and started unraveling the bloodied wrappings. She picked up the first aid kit and started another bandage for the sleeping Kaiba's legs. It only took her a couple of minutes until she was finished. As soon as she was done she went and got a book before coming back and plopping down on the other side of Kaiba's bed waiting for him to wake up...  
  
Several hours passed and Tea found herself feeling tired so she placed the book on her lap and closed her eyes for a little rest. Big surprise... she fell asleep...  
  
Kaiba woke up and looked around the room. He then closed his eyes and rolled over onto his side. He felt his arm rest against something warm. His eyes popped open and he looked over to see Tea lying underneath his arm. He smiled slightly and pulled her close to him with a happy sigh. In her slumber Tea cuddled up to him. Kaiba's smile widened and he closed his eyes again about to go back to sleep when... Bang! 'What am I doing?' He shoved himself away from her and fell onto the floor with a thud. He moaned slightly as the pained came back into his legs and arms as his head began to feel light and he clutched at it with his hands. Kaiba lay down on the floor and let the blood flow back into his brain as images of him and Tea on the bed flickered into his mind. 'Stop it Kaiba! Stop it! It's Tea your talking about... Tea! But she's so beautiful, and so warm, and... NO! Leave her be, you don't want her, you don't. Then why am I trying to convince myself? Do I want her? Oh, I do... I really do... Kaiba you fool, how could you let a thing like this happen...?'  
  
Tea opened her eyes and glanced at the spot where Kaiba had been. She sat bolt upright. Where'd Kaiba go? She crawled over to his side of the bed and looked around the room. She didn't see him, but after one scan of the room she heard a noise come from the floor.  
  
"Hello Tea."  
  
She looked down and there was Kaiba lying on the floor. She smiled, the almighty Kaiba had fallen out of bed... Climbing down next to Kaiba she helped lift him back on top of the mattress.  
  
"I see you woke up."  
  
He looked at her blankly, "When did you get here?"  
  
Tea smiled, "Around three o'clock. I didn't want to wake you so I grabbed a book and had started reading. I guess I kind of fell asleep..." She blushed slightly and giggled.  
  
'She looks so cute when she does that.' Kaiba inwardly melted, but he kept a straight expression on his face.  
  
Tea got up and started walking out the door before turning back to Kaiba, "I'm gonna go make you a sandwich... unless you've had something to eat today?"  
  
He shook his head and she left. A few minutes later she returned carrying a tray with a turkey sandwich and a glass of tea on it. She laid it next to Kaiba and smiled before sitting down next to him. He smirked and picked up the glass of tea in his hands.  
  
"Thanks..." And he started sipping at the liquid slowly.  
  
Tea smiled at him again and picked up her book and started reading again. Still engrossed in her story she went and lay down on the other side of Kaiba's bed.  
  
Kaiba sat in silence and drank his tea and ate his sandwich. When he was done he looked over at Tea reading her story and smiled.  
  
Something caught the edge of Tea's eye and she peered over at Kaiba. She saw him smiling at her but he quickly glanced away. This caused her to smile herself and she started to think.  
  
"Kaiba? Why don't you let people help you?"  
  
He looked over at her, "Where'd you get that idea?"  
  
Tea rolled her eyes, "Oh come on Kaiba, it's so obvious. Every time anyone even gets NEAR you, you become all coarse and stiff..."  
  
"I don't do that..."  
  
"See? Your even doing it now. Just tell me one clean honest answer. Why don't you let people help you?"  
  
Kaiba looked away from her and muttered, "Because people are only good for pain..."  
  
Tea reached over and stroked some of Kaiba's hair out of his face, "Not everyone is out to get you Kaiba..."  
  
His eyes locked into hers. "They might not be trying to, but they always do. They always do... Tea."  
  
This last statement somehow went straight through Tea's heart. She recoiled from him and sat there blinking as a throbbing ache traveled through her chest. She felt as if she had hurt Kaiba somehow, but she didn't know what she'd done...  
  
"I'm sorry..." Then Tea got up and left the room. Kaiba watched her leave. 'She doesn't want you Kaiba. She wants Yugi... you've seen how she acts towards him... Just give it up Kaiba, this is why you weren't supposed to care for her in the first place, it only hurts you...' He glared at the floor and grabbed his head in his hands... 'It's all your fault Kaiba... it's all your fault...' 


	8. Healing

Tea had been wandering around Kaiba's mansion for quite some time now. She popped into door and was checking out what all the rooms were. Two of the doors that she passed through the particularly interested her were the library, and what could only be referred to as the ballroom. She had stumbled into the library first and was quite taken aback by the large assortment of books. It was huge! Filled to the highest dimensions of the possible building zone with books. When Tea entered the ballroom it had managed to surprise her even more than the library. She smiled and walked through the immense room with a smile. Across from the door next to the wall length windows there sat a grand piano. Tea walked over to it and sat down when she pushed a few of the keys in and sighed happily. 'This would be the perfect place to relax if it was ever used...' Tea had noticed that most of the rooms she went into were very blank and still. The only reason that they weren't covered in dust was probably because of the maids who cleaned it.  
  
Tea spent the next couple of days reading in the library. Every once in a while she stopped in on Kaiba just to give him food or do some odds and ends. Each time she walked into his room in silence and left again without saying a word. Tea started to enjoy her peace and quiet in the library. But as the days crawled by she started going into the ballroom more and more. She would practice her ballet peacefully and would play the piano. It was relaxing to spend so much time by herself, but she did want to spend time with someone after being isolated.  
  
One time after spending the entire day dancing and reading she went downstairs and made some food for Kaiba like she always did so that he'd have some dinner. She carried the tray upstairs and placed it on the table next to Kaiba's bed. She had been tempted of saying something to Kaiba over the past two weeks, but she was still slightly nervous as to how he'd react. She had noticed that Kaiba had been calming down as to her daily visits. He had relaxed but he still avoided most eye contact with her and he never said anything.  
  
Kaiba was slowly getting better over the time Tea had been hanging around in the library and doing her own such things. He was able to move his legs again and the pain was only mild. Kaiba was afraid to say anything to Tea whenever she came into the room, he didn't want to start having feelings for her. Even though he already did, but admitting it was a different story. He did want to talk to someone though. Without his computers to calm him Kaiba had finished the work for school quite easily during the two weeks he had basically spent in solitude. He craved for at least SOME social interaction, even though Kaiba was socially challenged he did like talking to somebody once in a while...  
  
Tea turned around to leave and go back to reading or something like she always did when she heard a faint whisper from behind her.  
  
"Do you want to stay...?"  
  
Tea swung around in a circle, "Did you say something?"  
  
He shook his head and she turned to leave when the faint whisper reached her ears again.  
  
"I was wondering if you just wanted to talk with me... to just stay a while..."  
  
She walked back over to Kaiba's bed and sat down next to him, "Now I know you said something..."  
  
"I just... I was wondering... Do you want... Would you like to... Would you like to stay and talk?"  
  
Tea shrugged, "Sure... what about?"  
  
"I... I wanted to say thank you for taking care of me and things... You really didn't have to, and I know you must miss your friends... and Yugi..." As he spoke this last word his voice became hard and he clenched his fists.  
  
Tea looked at him a little worried, "Um, it's no problem Kaiba... and I do miss Yugi and everyone, but it's ok, you need me more than they do."  
  
Kaiba smirked slightly, "Well thank you anyway..."  
  
Tea cocked her head to the side and said somewhat excitedly, "Hey, would it be ok if I called Yugi?"  
  
If Kaiba had had claws they would have shot right out of his hands and into his bed a good couple of inches. Tea couldn't see this though since his hands were covered by the blanket and she listened as he talked to her again in as his 'Kaiba tone', the cold, flat, indifferent to all pain voice, "Nobody's stopping you..."  
  
Tea left the room with a happy bounce in her step as Kaiba watched her leave. 'See you idiot? It's Yugi, it's all Yugi... You are just some delusional idiot who thinks that he deserves feelings when all you deserve is nothing. Nothing! You might as well have gotten killed in that car crash, you should've had yourself killed in that car crash, you should kill yourself for not getting killed in that car crash...'  
  
Kaiba swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up shakily. He took a few steps towards his desk when his shaky legs gave way underneath him. He pushed himself up again and took another couple of steps but his legs just wouldn't cooperate. Growling agitatedly Kaiba gave up walking and just crawled the rest of the way there. It hurt his legs a little more than actually standing on them, but he got to his destination faster than he would of with walking. Opening the drawer he pulled out some scissors and smiled. Here he was again with an implement of destruction ready for pain, relief, an escape, a way to stop his frozen heart from beating blood through his pathetic body's soul...  
  
*****************  
  
When Tea had called Yugi's house nobody had been home. She sighed dejectedly, 'Awe well... I'll go tell Kaiba I'm off the phone...'  
  
She marched up the stairs and knocked on Kaiba's door a couple of seconds before she went in. Tea looked at his bed and saw no one was there. She scanned the room to see if she could find him anywhere. Sure enough, there he was leaning up against his desk. 'What is he doing?' She watch Kaiba for a second. He was hunched over with his legs curled up and seemed to be picking at... something.  
  
She walked over and kneeled down in front of Kaiba. She peered at him to see what he was doing and saw a gleam of metal. Her eyes bugged out and she yanked his arm away.  
  
"SHIT!" His eyes glared up at Tea as she saw the bleeding gash slit down the side of his arm.  
  
Kaiba saw her staring at his arm and he got up and leaned against the desk so that he wouldn't fall over again. "Can I help you?"  
  
"We're gonna go clean that up." She grabbed his arm and started yanking him towards the direction of the bathroom. He twisted his arm out of her grip and headed over towards the balcony shakily. Tea grabbed him again and started pulling, but again he twisted out of it and made his way out onto the balcony.  
  
Tea hurriedly followed him out there, "Come on, let's go back inside..."  
  
Kaiba looked back at her blankly. ".....No." He then started to jump up onto the railing when Tea's arm whacked him across the chest and onto the stone floor.  
  
"No!"  
  
Kaiba had the wind knocked out of his lungs and he gasped for breath as Tea pinned him against the floor so that he couldn't get up again. He glared up at her and wheezed, "Get off me!"  
  
Her stern gaze locked into his eyes, "You're gonna jump, I know you are... I'm not letting you up!"  
  
Kaiba sat there for a minute or two as the air returned to his lungs. Tea let up her grip on his as she felt his body relax, but all of a sudden he spun out from under her arm and launched himself over the railing.  
  
Tea thrust her self at the railing and almost fell over herself as she tried to catch the falling Kaiba. But she was too late, when she looked down all the she saw was Kaiba's beloved trench coat hanging off one of the jagged rocks on the cliff face.  
  
Tears welled up in the bottom of Tea's eyes and started trickling down her face. 'He's gone... He's gone and I couldn't do anything to stop him...' She looked down the cliff face at the coat and whispered, "Seto................" 


	9. Accepting

Tea walked inside and collapsed on top of Kaiba's bed. "Why'd you do it Kaiba? Why? You seemed to be getting better, but then you jumped... oh Seto....." She buried her head in his pillow as hot tears flowed down her face. She heard the door creak and turned around to see a small figure walking in.  
  
"Where's my brother?" Mokuba looked at Tea innocently. She hated to be the one to tell him that his brother had committed suicide. He was just so young, he shouldn't have to deal with these kinds of things...  
  
"He just went on a trip Mokuba... Don't worry, he's just on a little vacation..." She sobbed as the small blue eyes stared up at her and then down at the floor.  
  
"Your lying..."  
  
Tea wiped her eyes and tried to act like she was happy but she just couldn't hide the sorrow in her voice, "No. No, he's just on vacation... Nothing to worry about... He's just on vacation..."  
  
Mokuba looked up at her on the verge of tears. "He's dead isn't he..."  
  
Tea tried to say something but no words came out. She went over and hugged Mokuba. "I'm so sorry Mokuba..."  
  
The smaller Kaiba hugged Tea and burst into tears. Tea tried to comfort the little one and patted his back, "It's alright Mokuba, it's alright, everything will get better, it's alright..."  
  
************  
  
Tea sat with Mokuba until he eventually cried himself to sleep. Picking up the little Kaiba she went and tucked him into her bed. Trudging back into the older Kaiba's room she lay down on his bed again and hugged one of his pillows tightly. More tears trickled down her face as she wept for the dearly departed...  
  
"I'm so sorry Kaiba... I'm sorry I was ever mean to you... I'm sorry that I couldn't stop you... and I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry that I never told you that......I love you................."  
  
Curling up into a ball Tea cried until she was too tired and eventually fell asleep.  
  
*************  
  
Kaiba had tumbled down the jagged cliff walls behind his mansion before plunging into the icy cold water. Becoming limp he opened his eyes and looked at the murky world of black surrounding him as the cold darkness enveloped him. 'This is me... cold, dark, no escape... this is me...' His lungs started to burst for air and his natural instinct to live took over his morbid thoughts of death.  
  
He clawed for the surface as the blood poured out of the gashes in his legs and arms. The lightheaded feeling as if he were about to pass out flickered into Kaiba's head as things started flashing light and dark. His head broke the surface and he gasped in the fresh air before a wave crashed over his head. As weak and bleeding as Kaiba was he started swimming towards the cliff face. When he reached it he clung onto the jagged outcrops of rock and he managed to drag himself up onto a ledge he lay there gasping for breath...  
  
'No matter what I do, I can't die. I stab myself, I cut myself, I crash in my car, and I jump a couple hundred feet out of my window into the ocean and I still can't die... Death isn't even good enough for you Kaiba. Not even death... that just proves the point that you deserve nothing, nothing at all. You should just lie here where no one will find you, just lie here, no one will care, and no one will ever find you... Oh what's the point. I won't die. Death is just too good for me... I might as well just climb up this cliff and get back inside the house, that way I can at least cause myself more pain instead of lying here without anything to do...'  
  
Pushing himself up with his aching limbs Kaiba started to scale the cliff face. It would've been easy had he not been ready to collapse, there were lots of footholds and handholds for him to grab onto. When he reached the top he shoved his hands in his pockets and slowly walked back inside the house and into his room...  
  
*******************  
  
Tea blinked slowly and opened her eyes as immediately more tears streamed down her face. She hugged the pillow close to her chest and rolled over. Her eyes widened as she stared at the sleeping form next to her... Kaiba. Very wet, very dirty, and very bloody... but Seto Kaiba none the less.  
  
Tears started pouring down her face anew as she threw the pillow away and hugged Kaiba. 'I'm going insane. I so going insane. Oh, but I don't care. Seto is here right now and I'm not letting him go. Not for anything...' She squeezed him close to her and nuzzled her head against his chest. Tea felt a hand rest on her shoulder and she looked up into the eyes of a smiling Kaiba. He slid down next to Tea and rested his forehead against hers as he let her hair slide through his fingers.  
  
"Hello Tea..."  
  
She sighed happily, "Hello Seto."  
  
Kaiba gave a little snicker, "You called me Seto."  
  
Tea smiled sweetly, "There's a first time for everything..."  
  
Seto's eyes gleamed playfully, "There is a first time for everything." And he leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips.  
  
Tea wrapped her arms around Kaiba and joined in their peaceful moment of total bliss together.  
  
Kaiba slowly broke the kiss and gently whispered into Tea's ear, "I'm sorry..."  
  
She pulled a little away from him, "Huh?"  
  
Seto moved down to the end of the bed and started to leave the room when Tea got up and grabbed his arms and turned him around. "What are you doing?"  
  
He shook his head and looked away from her, "I can't Tea, I just can't..."  
  
Tea pressed her lips against his and was rewarded with his firm hands around her waist. Her leg pulled up and she clung onto his warm body, but this didn't last long before he backed away from her shaking his head. "Tea... you don't understand... You don't want me, you deserve better... Please... I just can't..."  
  
A look of despair grew on his face as he walked out the door slowly. He continued down the hall and shut the door of his office.  
  
Seto put a hand to his forehead and collapsed onto the couch. 'You idiot. What do you keep telling yourself? People are pain, stay away from them. But do you listen? Nooooo. You have to go and fall in love, and with Tea of all people. You're just a fool. A stupid, stupid fool who obviously likes to get hurt. You should give Tea a gun and have her shoot it at you. That would be easier than going through the torture of leading your delusional fantasies of having someone actually care for you...'  
  
He got up and walked back into his room with a sullen expression pasted onto his face. He glanced over at Tea who was sitting on the couch and watching him. He stared back at the floor and opened up his desk drawer. With a smirk he pulled out a pistol and sat down next to Tea on the couch where he sat with it in his lap as she eyed him warily. He lifted the gun to the side of his head and led his finger towards the trigger. Kaiba slowly applied pressure to the trigger and............................BANG!  
  
  
  
((If you guys feel like knowing whether Kaiba is dead or not then I need reviews ::shakes her head:: no reviews means no more chapters. So review peeps and then you don't have to be left in suspense for long. As soon as I get enough I'll post the others chapters so… REVIEW PLEASE!)) 


	10. Welcome Back

Tea had lunged herself at Kaiba just before the triggered had pulled knocking the gun away from Seto's head and at the ceiling. As plaster fell down on the two of them Tea tried to grab at the gun away from Kaiba. He held it up high above his head and Tea was forced to shove him down on the couch and crawl over him to pull the firearm out of his grasp. As she wrenched away from him Seto sat up and glared at her.  
  
"Give it back."  
  
Tea walked away from him and in the direction of the balcony. "Your not going to get this from me. I'm not letting any gun near you..." She opened the glass doors and then hurled the gun over the edge into the sea below.  
  
Walking back inside Tea plopped down next to Kaiba on the couch. Crossing her arms she looked at Seto blankly. "If you're thinking up some crazy scheme to hurt yourself again, then you can just forget it. I'm not leaving you alone by yourself until I'm absolutely sure you aren't gonna blow your head off or something."  
  
Seto continued glaring at her and clenched and unclenched his hands.  
  
"You threw my salvation out the window..."  
  
Tea spread her arms in a bewildered fashion. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Clawing slightly at the couch cushion he took a deep breath. "That was the only sure way that I could kill myself. Just think about it, I've been doing all these things to myself but I just can't die. I jump off a balcony and I still can't die. That gun was the only way that I would definitely be killed... You don't understand... I don't want pain. I've had enough pain... People are pain. They'll always be pain... I just wanted to get away from it all, but you got rid of my way out... It's your fault. It's all your fault. You're against me just like the rest of them. You're out to get me, that's what you are. You're just here to cause me pain. That's all you wanted in the first place, you just stayed here to cause me pain. That's what you are, pain... It's your fault... I should've known. You're just like Yugi. You just want to humiliate me... You just want to crush me into a little pile of rubble like everyone else. You're out to get me. You're all out to get me. All of you... You're all out to get me!"  
  
Seto had sunk his fingernails deep into the couch cushions and his voice had been getting louder and tenser as he was talking. Tea slowly scooted closer to Kaiba and placed her hands on either side of his head as he glared at her.  
  
"Seto, I'm not out to get you. Everyone is not out to-"  
  
"Shut up Tea." He batted her arms away and got up. Walking to the middle of the room with his arms behind his back Seto stood there in silence as Tea got up and walked next to him.  
  
"Seto..."  
  
"SHUT UP!" He whirled on her and practically breathed fire in her face.  
  
Tea glowered at him. "Just let me help you Seto Kaiba! Whenever my other friends are down they always let me help them. Even Joey let's people help him, even though he doesn't like it. Yugi always trusts people to help him, and he helps them out in return. Yugi doesn't shut people out like they were some virus come to take over them. Yugi doesn't-"  
  
Tea stopped abruptly and noticed how Kaiba had started pacing back and forth when she had started talking about Yugi. 'What's wrong with him?'  
  
Standing in front of him and grabbing his shoulders to stop him Tea talked in a much gentler voice. "What's wrong?"  
  
Seto's eyes bore holes through her. "Nothing!" He turned away from her and swung the door open just to be tackled down by a small little bundle of black hair.  
  
"Seto!" Mokuba squeezed his older brother as hard as he possibly could as the transformation of cold CEO to playful child took over Seto.  
  
Ruffling Mokuba's hair affectionately the older Kaiba had a huge smile plastered on his face. "Hey Mokuba, nice to see you too."  
  
Mokuba continued hugging the life out of his brother. "I knew it! I knew nothing could kill my big brother!"  
  
Seto glanced briefly over to Tea and then back to Mokuba. "What would give you the crazy idea that I had died?"  
  
Mokuba blinked back a couple tears of joy. "Tea was crying and told me you went on vacation… That's just what people did when our parents died… But you would never leave me, I knew you wouldn't leave me all by myself."  
  
Seto pinned his younger sibling to the floor and started tickling him with a playful grin. "Of course, I'll always be here for you."  
  
Being all around playful and foolish the two brothers tackled and tickled each other for a few minutes until Mokuba left with one of the biggest smiles he'd ever had on his face. Seto leaned up against the end of his bed and sighed happily. "What would I do without him…"  
  
Tea sat down next to him and poked the tip of his nose. "I knew it."  
  
Kaiba stared at her blankly with still a hint of playfulness gleaming in his eyes. "What?"  
  
Tea smiled. "I knew there was a kid down inside you somewhere."  
  
Seto stood up and dusted himself off. "I don't know what you're talking about." And he walked out of the room and Tea heard the faint sound of his office door closing.  
  
She smiled and shook her head. 'You just don't give up Seto.' Still with a smile on her face Tea left Kaiba's room and went into her room. Looking over at the calendar briefly she barely noticed that is was the 31st…  
  
*************************  
  
"Good morning."  
  
Tea's eyes popped open and she was staring straight at the smirking face of one CEO.  
  
Seto dangled some car keys in front of her face. "I'm giving you a ride to school. Now get ready, I'll meet you downstairs…" He pointed over to a tray of food sitting on her desk and he walked out of her room.  
  
Rubbing sleep out of her eyes Tea got up and got dressed. Eating her breakfast she slid down the banister and walked to the front door where Kaiba was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. His trench coat now returned to him Seto opened his eyes and his icy blue orbs cast their gaze over Tea. "You look nice…"  
  
He went to the bottom of the stairs and shouted up them. "Mokuba! Time to go!"  
  
Mokuba slid around the corner and ran down the stairs putting on his jacket with a half finished rice cake in his mouth. Seto smiled and ushered his little brother out the door along with Tea.  
  
They all got in the car and Seto dropped Mokuba off at the elementary school before taking both himself and Tea to the high school.  
  
He let Tea out of the car and then walked into the school by himself. They both handed the past months work into the teacher and then went to sit in their seats. Tea sat near Yugi and the rest of the gang and Seto in his own corner by himself…  
  
Yugi spun around in his seat and smiled at Tea. "Welcome back. We haven't seen you in a while."  
  
She smiled at her friend. "Thanks. So what'd I miss?"  
  
Joey pulled his chair over to the two of them. "Just all the useless boring information that they keep trying to shove into our heads. So what did ya do at the big mansion all this time? Did ya raid the house and take all the candy?"  
  
Tea rolled her eyes at the hopeless blonde. "No. I basically spent all my time in the library and just hanging out." She looked over at Yugi. "So what did you guys do while I was gone?"  
  
Yugi shrugged. "Normal things, playing Duel Monsters, hanging out at my grandpa's shop… the usual."  
  
Tea smiled at Yugi and felt a chill go up her spine. Turning around she could see Kaiba stabbing his pencil into the desk as he glared daggers at Yugi. She was about to get up and go talk to him but the bell rang and class began…  
  
***********************  
  
The lunch bell rang and Tea walked out with the rest of the gang and sat down at the table and started to eat. She saw Kaiba go sit in a corner by himself and stare into blank space. Shrugging she went back to her lunch and talking with her friends, catching up on the news of everything that had been happening since she was gone. Yugi had been whispering something to her when she got that icy feeling go down her spine again. Looking over in Kaiba's direction she saw him taking one of the plastic forks and stabbing it into a piece of paper he was holding in his hand and every once in a while glaring up at Yugi.  
  
She told her friends that she would be right back. Then she walked over to Kaiba who was concentrated on stabbing the already shredded piece of paper. Leaning over his shoulder she looked at the paper to see in big bold letters the words "YUGI MOTOU".  
  
Suddenly Seto noticed Tea standing there and crumbled up the piece of paper. Shoving it into his pocket he looked blankly at her. "What do you want?"  
  
Tea folded her arms and started tapping her foot. "What do you have against Yugi?"  
  
Kaiba looked away from her. "I don't know what you're talking about…"  
  
She sat down next to him and gave an exasperated sigh. "I know you have something against him. You keep glaring at him, and you were just stabbing a piece of paper to death with his name on it… What's the problem?"  
  
Seto turned to look at her and locked his gaze onto her eyes. "Do you like Yugi?"  
  
Tea cocked an eyebrow at this. "Of course, I mean he's my friend…"  
  
He shook his head, "No. I mean do you have a thing for him...?"  
  
Tea's expression became even more curious. "Well… no. He's just my friend…"  
  
Kaiba breathed a small sigh of relief and his eyes softened as he looked at Tea. "I'm sorry… I just thought-… I'm sorry…"  
  
Tea giggled a little and brushed some of Seto's hair out of his face. "It's okay…"  
  
*****************  
  
"Hey, look at Tea…" Joey pointed a finger and turned to his spiky haired friend. "Yug, am I right, or has hell frozen over… is Tea being nice to Kaiba?"  
  
Glancing over at their friend Yugi cocked his head to the side slightly. "Well… it looks like she's being nice to him…"  
  
Joey snickered evilly. "We gotta go bug 'em Yug. We just gotta." Getting up he yanked his smaller friend with him and Tristan followed.  
  
*****************  
  
Seto smiled at Tea and was about to say something when he felt a hand fall down on his shoulder. Looking up his eyes narrowed at the blonde standing next to him. "Go away Fido."  
  
Joey smiled at Kaiba. "Hey Kaiba. What's up?"  
  
Seto clenched his fists. "Go… away…"  
  
Tristan decided it was time to put his two cents in, "Awe come on now Kaiba. That's no way to talk to your best bud."  
  
Seto got up and headed for class. "I don't have time for this…" Smiling he flicked the end of Tea's hair slightly. "See you later Tea…"  
  
She blushed a little. "Bye Seto." Whirling on her friends she glared at them. "What are you guys doing over here?"  
  
Joey smirked, "We should be asking you the same question. What were you doing over here?"  
  
Tristan grinned evilly, "I think she's gone to the dark side Luke. Get your lightsaber it's time to go after Darth Vader!" He grabbed an imaginary lightsaber and started after Kaiba with Joey when Tea grabbed the back of their shirts.  
  
"Don't you DARE!"  
  
Joey turned around and started snickering. "Why do you care Tea? It's not like you have a crush on him or anything…"  
  
Tea didn't say anything and Joey was about to talk again when Yugi butted in. "Leave her alone Joey." He then looked over at Tristan. "You too…"  
  
The whole subject dropped there as the bell rang and everyone went back to class. 


	11. Anger

Tea walked out of school with her backpack slung over one shoulder as she was chatting about this and that with the guys. She was getting into Joey's car, since he was taking everyone to Yugi's Grandpa's, when she noticed Kaiba watching her as he was leaning up against his car across the parking lot.  
  
"Hey, I'll catch up with you guys later, ok?"  
  
"Sure Tea. See you later." Yugi smiled and shut the car door. Joey then started it up and drove off with the happy crew as Tea walked across the parking lot to Kaiba who's gaze never left her.  
  
As she approached Seto began to smile. "Not riding with our friends today are we?"  
  
Tea leaned up against the car next to him. "I wanted to say thanks."  
  
Her stared at her, "What for?"  
  
"You know what for…" She rolled her eyes. "I could tell you wanted to cream Joey at lunch…"  
  
Seto smirked at her, "Maybe a little…" He opened the door and let Tea get in before he walked over to the driver's side and got in himself. Turning on the car he pulled out of the parking lot and went to pick up Mokuba.  
  
Tea sat in the car and watched Seto standing outside the elementary school waiting for his little brother. 'He's so sweet. He'd do anything for that little brother of his.' She smiled and waited for him to come back with Mokuba. It didn't take that long and they were soon at Kaiba's mansion. He pulled into the driveway and everybody got out.  
  
They all went inside and Mokuba headed up to his room to start his homework, Tea went to her room, and Seto to his as they all worked on their schoolwork. It didn't take that long for Tea to finish her homework and she went into Seto's room. He was just closing up his books when she walked in. Turning around from his desk he smiled.  
  
"Hello Tea."  
  
"Hi. Um, I'm going to take my stuff home, all right? Since you're all better I really don't need to be here anymore…"  
  
"Just call me when you're ready for me to drive you home…" He turned back to his desk as he said this and finished putting the books away.  
  
"Thanks…" She walked out of the room and went into hers where she packed up all her things. It didn't take that long and she knocked on Kaiba's door fifteen minutes later.  
  
*******************  
  
On the drive over to Tea's house the two of them were silent. It wasn't a long drive and when they got there Kaiba got out and pulled Tea's things out of the trunk. She opened the door and went inside followed by Kaiba. He put he things just inside the door and was about to leave again when Tea grabbed his arm.  
  
"Seto… Is everything alright?"  
  
He looked down at the floor for support, "Well… … … … … no… it's nothing…"  
  
She cocked her head to the side slightly, "Are you sure?"  
  
Somehow she slowly felt a wall of ice forming between them and she saw Seto's eyes harden as he locked his gaze back into hers. His voice had become the way she had always remembered it, that cold, indifferent voice, as he spoke to her again.  
  
"Yes. It's nothing. I'll be leaving now…" Removing his arm from her grasp he walked out the door and drove off in his car.  
  
Tea watched him disappear around the corner and then walked up to her room. She fell down onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling with a heavy sigh. 'Every time he has a problem he closes himself off. But those are the times when he needs to open up…'  
  
****************************  
  
Over the next week the Tea had been trying to talk to Kaiba, but he had gone out of his way to avoid her. When she started coming over to him at lunch he got up and left. When she tried to talk to him in class he would ignore her and then leave. He always left.  
  
Thursday after school and she got home she dropped her books on the floor and turned on the TV in the living room. It didn't take that long for her to lose interest and then she decided she go call somebody and talk to them.  
  
Running up into her room she picked up the phone and automatically dialed a number without even thinking as she lay down on her bed.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi Seto."  
  
"Oh… it's you…"  
  
"Are you mad at me?"  
  
There was a long pause, "…No"  
  
Tea smiled. It had been a while since she'd heard his voice, and she found it kind of nice. "Are you busy tomorrow afternoon?"  
  
Another long pause, "…No"  
  
"Then would it be alright if I came over?"  
  
An even longer pause, "… No"  
  
Tea was confused at this. "But you said you weren't busy…"  
  
"I'm not."  
  
"But then why can't I-"  
  
"You don't need to be here anymore." And with that Tea was answered only with the dial tone.  
  
Hanging up the phone slowly Tea was confused. "I know he's upset about something… I just wish he'd tell me what…"  
  
***************************  
  
At school the next day Kaiba acted the same as he always did. He came into the classroom silently, walked over to his desk, sat down, folded his arms, and didn't say anything.  
  
The lunch bell rang and all the students ran out of the classroom. Tea sat with Yugi and the rest of the gang as usual. She saw Kaiba walk into the room and sit in the corner all by himself… again. And he didn't have any lunch, like always.  
  
Tea got up and sat next to him. Surprisingly enough he didn't leave, he just ignored her. She held out half her sandwich in front of her. "Do you want some?"  
  
He looked down at the sandwich, then and her, and then returned to staring off into space.  
  
Tea placed the sandwich down in front of him and cocked her head slightly to the side. "You ok?"  
  
Seto turned to face her with his usual blank expression. "I'm fine."  
  
Tea brushed a few stray hairs out of his eyes. "Are you sure?"  
  
Kaiba peered over at Yugi and everyone who were of course watching them. Getting up he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away. "Yes…"  
  
Tea went back to sit with her friends and glared at them. "Why can't you guys ever mind your own business?"  
  
Joey smiled and pointed a finger at her. "Why should we when you don't?"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"You gave Kaiba your sandwich."  
  
"And your point is?"  
  
"It's his choice whether to eat or not."  
  
"So… I just gave him food, I didn't force feed him or anything."  
  
"You're taking care of him."  
  
"No I'm not."  
  
"Yes you are."  
  
"No. I'm really not."  
  
"Yes. You really are."  
  
"Stop it you guys." Of course Yugi is the one to calm things down. And it always works… So the gang just went back to eating lunch and talking about how annoying this teacher is and what they want to do after school and other bits of this and that.  
  
********************  
  
Mokuba had wanted to take the bus that day so as a change of pace Seto walked. He hadn't looked at the daily weather forecast though, and just his luck it had started raining. And to add to his even luckier day Yugi and the gang were walking too.  
  
Joey and Tristan had decided to have a race for some reason or another and they were running ahead of Yugi and Tea when they spotted Kaiba walking down the street. Joey being the joker he is decided to have some fun, winking at Tristan he stopped running and walked up idly next to Kaiba with Tristan following his example. Kaiba ignored the two and just kept walking until Joey decided to speak up.  
  
"Hey Kaiba. How've ya been?"  
  
Seto just kept walking.  
  
"Something wrong buddy?"  
  
No comment…  
  
Joey snickered and looked over to Tristan. "I think he's not talking to us." Going back to Kaiba, Joey made little sniffle sounds and pretended to cry. "Maybe Kaiba should run back to his mommy…"  
  
Joey grinned evilly as he noticed Kaiba tense up when he said this.  
  
"It's ok Kaiba. Mommy and Daddy will protect you from us mean people. I'm sure Mommy will scold us and send us home. And if we're really bad Daddy will come to the rescue and- OOF!"  
  
Kaiba swung his big metal briefcase right into Joey's stomach. Chucking it to the side he then hurled himself at Joey and started pummeling him with his fists.  
  
Joey was taken completely off guard and he couldn't get away from the infuriated Kaiba. Tristan tried pulling Kaiba off of his friend but he received a solid punch in the middle of his face, which sent him spinning.  
  
Tea and Yugi came upon the scene of Joey getting his face bashed in as Kaiba sat on top of him. And Tristan was sitting on the ground with his face in his hands and moaning.  
  
They started running and both grabbed Kaiba's arms and pulled him off of Joey. They didn't get him far away enough before he landed a few good kicks and even then they had a hard time holding back the angered CEO.  
  
"Let me go! I'll kill him! I swear I'll kill him! LET ME GO!!!"  
  
Joey sat up slowly and clutched at his head. He stood up and walked over to Kaiba slowly.  
  
Joey pulled his arm back ready to punch Kaiba. But the executive twisted his arms around getting rid of Tea and Yugi and he dropped to the ground kicking at Joey's feet knocking him to the ground. Picking up his briefcase Kaiba glared down at Joey and then walked away from the scene.  
  
Tea helped Joey up and Yugi went over to Tristan. Looking at the blonde somewhat angrily she asked, "What did you guys say?"  
  
Joey half smiled through a wince. "I just said that his parents would have to come save him from us. That's all, no biggie…"  
  
Tea shoved him away from her. "You jerk! His parents are DEAD!"  
  
Joey's eyes opened in surprise and then he looked down at the ground guiltily. "Oh…"  
  
Scowling at her friend Tea turned and started running after Kaiba.  
  
********************************  
  
Seto walked down the street with fire in his eyes. 'I should've stayed and beat the crap out of that bastard. How dare he pick on my parents. How DARE he. I should've killed him. I should have beaten him to death. That would teach him.' Glaring at the sidewalk in frustration and mentally maiming Joey, Kaiba barely noticed the voice calling out behind him…  
  
"Seto! SETO!"  
  
It finally clicked in his brain and he turned around to see Tea running up after him. When she reached him he glared at her. "What do you want?"  
  
To his surprise Tea hugged him and whispered into his ear. "I'm sorry…"  
  
"What for?" He pushed her away slightly and took his trench coat off and wrapped it around her shoulders to protect her from the rain.  
  
"I'm sorry about what they said… about your parents…"  
  
Seto looked away from her with hurt in his eyes. "It's not your fault…"  
  
Tea gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "It was still wrong of them."  
  
Pulling Tea into him Seto nuzzled into her hair and smiled. "You know, I missed you…"  
  
"I missed you too…" Sighing happily she rested her head on his shoulder. Then suddenly she felt his body tense and she looked at him. "Something wrong?"  
  
Kaiba was staring off down the sidewalk. "It's them…" Looking into her eyes he leaned forward and gave her a kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"  
  
She nodded and with that he turned and walked away…  
  
As the rest of the gang caught up Yugi nodded his head in the direction Kaiba had just gone. "What was that about?"  
  
Tea wiped the dreamy look off her face and looked at her vertically challenged friend ((teeheehee)). "I was just doing some damage control for a certain someone." She glared over at Joey who put up his arms in a sort of I-didn't-do-anything-bad motion.  
  
Yugi then looked over at his two friends. Tristan only had a broken nose, but Joey had been landed with two black eyes and a couple other nasty bruises. Shaking his spiky head Yugi sighed. "You guys should really be careful what you say to people."  
  
****************************  
  
Kaiba had felt a lot better after talking to Tea and when he got home he had gone into the library to read something relaxing. He hadn't been in there in a while since he generally absorbed himself in his work so much. And when he went in there he looked around and noticed a book lying on the table. Opening it up he looked at the inside cover and saw scribbled in cursive: Tea Gardner.  
  
Seto smirked and walked out of the library. Getting into his car he put the book on the seat beside him and drove off… 


	12. The Movies

((No offense to all you Joey lovers. I need somebody to pick on =) But I love Joey too so it's all in fun… Now on with the show!))  
  
Ding-Dong!  
  
Tea ran down the stairs and opened up the door.  
  
"Oh, Hi Seto." She smiled. "What brings you here?"  
  
"You forgot this at my house." He handed the book to Tea and turned to go, but she grabbed his arm.  
  
"Do you want to stay for dinner?"  
  
He shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Sure… why not."  
  
Walking inside he followed Tea into the kitchen where she started getting out various foodstuffs.  
  
"Um… Can I help?"  
  
She popped her head out of the fridge to look at him. "Well, I guess. Here…" She shut the door and picked up a knife, handing it to him along with a green pepper. "You can cut this up, and those other vegetables too if you want." She gave him the cutting board and showed him where the other vegetables were before she went back to the fridge and pulled out some hamburger. "Do you like this stuff?"  
  
He looked up from his cutting and nodded. "Sure." Then he went back to slicing the pepper into little tiny pieces.  
  
Tea watched him and smiled slightly as she unwrapped the beef and started making it into patties. "Thanks for returning my book…"  
  
"No problem…" He slid the pieces of pepper to the side with the knife and started chopping up a carrot.  
  
They sat there in silence preparing the food for a while and Kaiba finished with his chopping and started spinning the knife around. Tea was trying to think of something to talk about and then the image of Joey's purple face jumped into her mind. "Joey looked like a plum today." She looked over at Kaiba who just kept spinning the knife. "You did a pretty good number on him…" She glanced over at him again and he shrugged.  
  
"He deserved it…"  
  
Tea put the burgers into a frying pan and started cooking them. "Maybe. I'm sorry again for what he said. There was no reason for him to do that…"  
  
"…"  
  
She turned to face him and saw he had stopped spinning the knife and was now holding it by the handle. Turning back again she flipped the patties over. "Those guys can be real jerks sometimes. But they mean well…"  
  
"…"  
  
Tea started to feel uncomfortable and decided to change the topic some. "He did look pretty funny…"  
  
She heard Seto chuckle a little behind her. "I hit him with my briefcase…"  
  
Facing him she looked surprised. "You did?"  
  
A smile growing on his features he started twirling the knife again. "Right in the stomach."  
  
Tea giggled and rubbed her own stomach. "That must've hurt."  
  
"It did…" He grinned.  
  
Dinner was good, but they didn't really talk that much during it. Afterwards Kaiba cleared off their plates and took up the knife again and started twirling it again.  
  
Tea walked up and leaned against the counter next to Kaiba. Thoughts had been running through her mind over dinner and she finally decided to voice the one that was clawing at her the most.  
  
"Seto?"  
  
He continued twirling the blade and looked over at her for a second. "Hm?"  
  
"Do you love me?"  
  
The knife flew out of his hand and into the wall. Looking at Tea sheepishly Seto smirked and went to yank it out of the wall. "Sorry..."  
  
Tea's eyes followed him until he came back and leaned against the counter again. "So? Do you?"  
  
Seto shrugged and put the knife down on the counter. "I guess so..."  
  
Tea wrapped her arms around his neck and bobbed noses with him. "You guess so?"  
  
Smiling he leaned in and gave her a kiss. "Ok, I do."  
  
((And of course perfect timing...)) Seto's phone began to ring and he reached into his pocket flipping the contraption open in one swift motion and placing it to his ear.  
  
"Hello? Ok... I'll be right there..." Hanging up the phone he looked back at Tea. "Guess what?"  
  
"You gotta go?"  
  
"Yeah..." Brushing a few strands out of her face he smiled. "I'll stop by again tomorrow, ok?"  
  
With a little giggle Tea nodded, "Ok..."  
  
***************  
  
Kaiba burst into the main headquarters and glared over at his secretary, "Where are they?"  
  
She shuffled papers nervously and managed to stutter, "Th-They're in your office M-Mr. Kaiba sir..."  
  
Kaiba marched into the room and scowled at the men sitting around his desk, "What do you buffoons want?"  
  
One of them stood up and wrung his hands. "Well.. you see... we have a problem... a problem..."  
  
'These idiots never get to the point. He'll just go on and on until he finally decides to give a hint of what he's talking about. I don't have time for this...' "Just spit it out!"  
  
"We have a virus in all the computers and we can't fix it..."  
  
'A computer virus... this company develops high quality holographic dueling systems and they call me in, for a computer virus...' Narrowing his eyes at the incompetents before him Kaiba went over to his desk and sat down in front of his computer. "You idiots leave... I'll fix this."  
  
All of the men filed out leaving Kaiba to his work.  
  
'Idiots. They can't even fix a simple virus...' He typed away at his computer and found the virus. It didn't take him that long to find the problem and after that it was just finding the right computer program to solve it. In around half an hour he was all done and he emerged out of his office.  
  
"Tell those idiots I've fixed it... and if they have a problem like this again tell them to find a simpleton co-worker to fix it instead of bothering me with something this idiotic."  
  
He marched out of the building and drove off in his car. 'Idiots, buffoons, morons...' After cursing everyone he worked with, it finally went out of his system and he was home again.  
  
Walking in the front door he was immediately met with a hug around the waist by Mokuba. Exhaling the last bit of any anger left in him Seto chuckled. "Hi Mokuba." 'He's still feeling clingy... Not that I blame him, I would be too if I thought he'd died...' Feeling kind of guilty for putting that emotional stress on his little brother Seto ruffled the black bundle of hair.  
  
"You took a while..." The small blue eyes stared up into Seto's as the older Kaiba smiled.  
  
"Sorry... Tea asked me to stay for dinner."  
  
With an evil grin on his face Mokuba giggled.  
  
"What?!"  
  
Mokuba started taunting, "Seto's got a girlfriend. Seto's got a girlfriend."  
  
Pinning him to the ground Kaiba set upon tickling his younger sibling. "So what if I do?"  
  
"Hehe... Ok... Hehe... I give... Hehehehe... Stop!... Hehehehehehe... Please! You Win!... Hehehe... SETO!"  
  
Smiling Seto let up on torturing his sibling and ruffled his hair once again. "See you later." Pulling his little brother off the floor he chuckled and shook his head before running up the stairs into his room.  
  
Lying down on his bed with a wondering look on his face he let his eyes run back and forth on the ceiling. 'Tea? My girlfriend? Well... that would be nice. I just wonder what she'd think... I mean... Should I ask?... No... That could be humiliating...' With this he covered his eyes with one arm. 'I know!' Sitting up with a hopeful look on his face Seto pulled out his cell phone and punched a number in.  
  
Ring. Ring. Ring. Ri-  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Seto?"  
  
"The one and only..."  
  
"Hi!"  
  
Seto chuckled at how perky Tea always sounded. "Glad your happy."  
  
"Why'd you call?"  
  
"Was just wondering something..."  
  
"Which was?"  
  
"For tomorrow... Would you like to go to the movies?"  
  
"Um... ok..."  
  
"I'll come pick you up at seven. See you tomorrow."  
  
"Sure... See ya."  
  
Hanging up the phone Seto smiled and fell back onto the bed again. 'We'll just have to see what happens now...'  
  
**************  
  
Tea finished washing the dishes and ran upstairs to get ready. Taking a quick shower Tea pulled on a blue jean skirt and a nice tight purple tank top. Running downstairs she looked at the clock, 6:50. 'With ten minutes to spare.' Sitting down on the couch she breathed a sigh and waited for the doorbell to ring. Twiddling her thumbs and staring around the room she waited until she heard the doorbell ring. Jumping up she ran over to the door and pulled it open to see Kaiba standing there.  
  
When he saw her he ran his eyes up and down as he smiled. "You look nice." Giving her a kiss on the cheek he led her to the car and then they drove off.  
  
"So what movie do you want to see?" Seto asked Tea as she buckled in.  
  
"I don't know..." She shrugged and cocked her head to the side. "What do you want to see?"  
  
Chuckling he smirked, "Why don't we just pick one at random, that will be easier."  
  
Tea shrugged again. "Ok then."  
  
***************  
  
Seto slid into his seat as the movie started and he handed Tea the Raisinets she'd asked for. "Here you go."  
  
"Thanks. So what movie did you pick for us?"  
  
"Jurassic Park three."  
  
Tea stared at him and blinked. "That is such a guy thing..."  
  
He looked at her. "What's wrong with people getting eaten and maimed?"  
  
Smiling Tea leaned up against him and smiled as she took out some of the Raisinets. "Nothing..."  
  
"Hey Yug, this movie is gonna be great."  
  
'Oh no, not them...' Seto tried to shrink down in his seat as far as he possibly could before Tea looked at him curiously.  
  
"What's the matter?"  
  
"Joey..." He groaned.  
  
Tea took a quick glance behind their seat and saw Joey and Yugi with a nice big tub of popcorn. Shrinking down into the seat along with Seto she giggled. "We'll just have to hope that they don't see us..."  
  
He looked over at her somewhat curiously, "But, they're your friends... Why are you hiding?"  
  
Poking his nose she smiled, "Because they aren't your friends, and if they saw me I would never hear the end of it."  
  
Seto smirked and went to watching the movie for a while until a piece of popcorn fell on top of his head. Picking the kernel out of his hair he narrowed his eyes but just kept watching with Tea leaning against him. Shortly after another kernel fell down into his hair. Taking a deep breath Kaiba picked this one off his head too and flicked it away. 'Don't bother turning around. You know it's Joey, and he probably doesn't know it's you. So just ignore it and then he'll never know you were here...' He tried watching the movie again until a shower of kernels fell down on him.  
  
Whirling around in his seat Kaiba glared at Joey who was throwing up popcorn and trying to catch it in his mouth. Noticing someone staring at him Joey stopped throwing popcorn and looked at Seto.  
  
"Oh, sorry dude, I didn't mean to- Kaiba? What are you doing here?"  
  
Grinding his teeth together Kaiba hissed at Joey, "What do you think? Watching the movie... So stop. throwing. popcorn..." Sliding back into his seat Kaiba folded his arms and glared at the screen.  
  
Tea cuddled up against him again and whispered. "Just calm down... It's ok..."  
  
Seto stiffened and continued glaring at the screen. "I am calm."  
  
Taking a raisinet out of the box Tea shoved it into his mouth. With a look of surprise coming onto his face she smiled at him. "You're not calm... So stop lying."  
  
Unfolding his arms Seto gave a slight shrug and swallowed the little piece of chocolate. "Well... I'm calm now." He leaned his head down on top of hers and settled down into the seat again with a smile until yet another piece of popcorn came down onto his head. Growling slightly he turned around very slowly and sent a deadly glare in Joey's direction.  
  
Joey smiled innocently and ate a piece of popcorn. "What?"  
  
"Popcorn..."  
  
Joey's smile widened and he took another piece of popcorn. "Ya want some?"  
  
"No..."  
  
Shrugging the blonde took yet another piece. "Suit yerself."  
  
Turning back around Kaiba was going to watch the movie again, but yet another kernel flew at his head. Ignoring Tea's whispers to just ignore them Seto got up and grabbed the front of Joey's shirt. Dragging him out of his seat Seto yanked Joey all the way to the outside of the theatre. Hissing in his face Kaiba jammed the blonde against the brick wall. "I. Hate. You."  
  
Joey squirmed and tried to get out of the executive's grip. "Well I'm not your biggest fan either!"  
  
Tea and Yugi came running after the CEO and the kicking Joey quickly. When they burst out into daylight Yugi ran up to Kaiba to try and stop him from beating up Joey like he had the other day.  
  
When Yugi had grabbed onto his arm Kaiba let go of Joey and whirled onto the shorter one. Shoving Yugi to the ground Kaiba let his fist meet each side of Yugi's face before Tea came and intervened. She grabbed onto his arm and yanked him away from the munchkin on the floor shoving him onto the wall in much the same way Kaiba had done to Joey. Leaning against him so that he couldn't easily move she looked right into his eyes and spoke to him in a firm yet calming voice.  
  
"Seto, leave Yugi alone. Calm down... It's alright, calm down. Just calm down."  
  
He tried to push her away but her body held him against the wall.  
  
"Shhhhhh, Seto. Shhhhhh..." Tea stroked the sides of his head and whispered to him soothingly. "Shhhhhh. Just calm down... Calm down..."  
  
Taking a deep breath Seto smiled and nodded. Tea then let him off the wall and he looked down at Yugi lying on the ground with Joey next to his friend. Clenching his hand and accidentally kind of crushing Tea's arm he glared down at the two of them. Tea leaned her head against his chest and made a shushing sound again while stroking his arm. He looked back at her and took another deep breath before nuzzling into her hair. "Ok...It's fine now..."  
  
"Tea?" A curious look spread itself across Yugi's face as he looked up at Tea who was hugging his former attacker. 


	13. Exile

Tea let go of Kaiba and went over to Yugi. "Are you ok?"  
  
Very confused his eyes darted back and forth from Tea to Kaiba. "Um... yeah... but, um... Tea?"  
  
She helped Yugi to his feet and cocked her head to the side. "What is it?"  
  
"You, Kaiba... were you- were you just- What are you doing here with KAIBA?"  
  
Joey glared over at Kaiba. "You kidnapped her, and then you BRAINWASHED her!"  
  
Seto folded his arms and leaned back against the wall. "I did no such thing..."  
  
Joey continued using his overactive imagination, "Yes you did. This is all part of your evil plan to humiliate Yugi, isn't it? Just brainwash Tea so that she THINKS she likes you and then get her to tell you Yugi's deepest darkest secret and then you broadcast it to the world! And then you'll dump Tea and make her all sad because she realizes she's just been used and betrayed her friends and then she'll be crushed into the dust and it will be YOUR fault!"  
  
Kaiba glared over at Joey, "Just keep at it Fido..."  
  
"And then everyone will hate Tea because she betrayed Yugi, but she won't know it because you erased her memory. And then we'll all come after you for hurting her because it'll be your fault. You'll have crushed her into the dust in your sick evil twisted game!"  
  
Seto started towards Joey with a look of death but Tea grabbed his shoulder making him stop and whispered something into his ear. Still glaring at Joey Kaiba turned around and walked away to his car and drove off.  
  
Yugi was still blinking at Tea in shock while Joey peered over at her with a suspicious look. Taking a deep breath Tea prepared herself for all the questions and accusations coming her way.  
  
"What was that about?" Joey mildly glared at her.  
  
"Um... well... he had to go I guess..."  
  
Cocking an eyebrow and being suspicious Joey continued onward. "Ya... sure... and the sky is falling... What did you say to him?"  
  
Tea smiled nervously. "Nothing, really... Are you guys alright?"  
  
Yugi rubbed his cheek and winced. "Other than some pain I guess I'm fine. But Tea... Kaiba?"  
  
Joey looked at her like she was some kind of traitor. "Heh, Kaiba. Of all the assholes on this planet Tea had to pick the biggest jerk..." He glared at her. "Don't you remember what he's done to us Tea? He stole Gramps' Blue Eyes and ripped it in half, he's beaten me up, and now he's beat Yug up who didn't even DO anything! How could you?!"  
  
Hurt spreading itself all over her Tea looked at Joey. "Who said anything about me "picking" Kaiba? I never "picked" him." She was only met with a cold stare so she turned to Yugi. "You have to believe me. I'd never do anything to hurt you guys..."  
  
Yugi looked away from her on the verge of tears. "I don't know Tea... I mean you have been acting pretty strange... and you didn't even get upset at him for hurting me and Joey... I just don't know..." He shook his head slowly before he turned and walked away from her with Joey following after sending one last "traitor" glare her way...  
  
**********  
  
Tea had to walk home by herself with thoughts running through her mind in a storm. 'How could they act so cold? They're my friends... I'd do anything for them... Don't they know that? The fact that I care for Seto too shouldn't change things between us... And I couldn't yell at him... He had a reason to beat up Joey... But he didn't for Yugi... I should talk to him... But then the guys will even hate me more if they see me talking to him... They should trust me... How could they turn on me so quickly? How could they?' She opened the front door and trudged slowly upstairs into her bedroom where she curled up on her bed and cried.  
  
The phone rang next to her and she picked it up as the tears flowed down her face.  
  
"Hello...?"  
  
"Hi Tea... are you alright?"  
  
"Just fine Seto... just fine..."  
  
"I, um, I called to apologize for... earlier... I'm sorry... Are you really ok?"  
  
Sitting up on her bed Tea wiped her eyes and tried to smother the sob in her voice, "I'm fine... Everybody hates me... But I'm just fine, thanks a lot Kaiba." She slammed the phone down on the receiver and curled back into a ball on her bed once more.  
  
***********  
  
Seto hung the phone up slowly and stared around his room. 'Oh no...' The words that Tea had whispered to him came back into his mind as he got up and started walking down the hall to his office: "Please Seto... These are my friends, they mean more to me than anything... please just go..." The scene just kept running through his mind over and over again as guilt and rejection set themselves down deep inside Seto. 'Her friends are mad at her, and I bet it's because of me... It's my fault, I've hurt Tea. I never meant to, but I did... And now she hates me... She hates me...'  
  
Going inside his office and sitting down at his computer he started working as he slowly fell back into his normal routine. Ignore all people, protect yourself, then you won't have pain, only loneliness.  
  
***********  
  
Monday came soon enough and Tea trudged into school and sat in her normal seat with Joey glaring at her and Yugi utterly ignoring her. With her head in her hands she didn't notice Kaiba coming in. She barely even noticed when the bell rang and class began. At lunch she had to go sit by herself since when she came over to Yugi's table Joey had sent her a death glare. So she went and sat in a corner all by herself as she wanted to cry. Tea ate her lunch slowly even though it tasted like cardboard to her, and she looked over sadly at her friends who had so easily come to distrust her.  
  
************  
  
"Do we really have to ignore her?" Yugi had been glancing over at Tea and seeing how sad she looked and he felt really bad for being mean to his childhood friend.  
  
"Yeah we do. If we don't ignore her then she'll never dump Kaiba and realize what a jerk he is and then be back to her normal Tea self again."  
  
Yugi looked over at Tea pathetically and then back at Joey. "Well she's not with him now... Why don't we just go over and see if she's dumped him..." Yugi started to get up but was yanked down again by Joey.  
  
"No Yug, we gotta make sure she's gotten rid of him. Give it a few more days..."  
  
*************  
  
Those were the worst few days in all of Tea's life. She was ignored and shunned by Joey and everyone, and she couldn't talk to Seto without feeling guilty about her friends. She also had somewhat blamed him for her exile...  
  
*************  
  
"Hi Tea."  
  
Tea looked up from being hunched over on the lunch table into the guilty face of Yugi. Tears welled up in the bottom of her eyes and she went back to having her head in her arms.  
  
Looking over at Joey who was sitting at the other table Yugi glared at him for making him help make Tea so miserable. Then he turned back to Tea and started patting her on the back. "Tea, I'm sorry... Are you ok?"  
  
She glared up at him as small tears trickled down her face. "Why do you care? Jerk."  
  
Yugi sat down next to her, "Tea, I'm reeaaaaally sorry. Please forgive me. We just wanted to make sure you weren't with Kaiba anymore..." These last words sounded wrong to him, and he looked over at Joey again who in return sighed and came over to them.  
  
"Hey Tea, come on, s'all cool now. You can come sit with us."  
  
With more tears falling down her face Tea fell back into her arms and sobbed. "But you turned your backs on me... You didn't trust me anymore... You acted as if I was some kind of traitor..." She looked at Joey and then at Yugi before crying into her arms.  
  
Sending Joey an I-told-you-this-was-a-bad-idea look, Yugi patted Tea on the back again. "I know we overreacted, and it was stupid to ignore you... but could you please give us another chance. Please Tea?"  
  
Tea stared at Yugi and then down at the table. 'Should I forgive them? Yugi did admit they were wrong... And I still want to be their friend... Okay.' "I'll try..."  
  
Yugi gave her a hug and dragged her back over to their normal table with a smile. "Thanks Tea."  
  
************  
  
Kaiba watched them from his corner silently. 'Well at least Tea is happy again...' And then as the bell rang he got up and walked back inside, hands in pockets, expression blank, heart... empty. 


	14. Mokuba to the Rescue

Tea got a ride home in Joey's car along with everyone else falling back into the normal swing of things. With a fresh smile on her face Tea pulled all her stuff out of her backpack and set to her homework. Finishing in just an hour Tea packed away her stuff and then plopped down on the couch with a happy sigh. Picking up a book that was on the coffee table she looked at it. 'This is the book Seto brought back...' and a picture of his smiling face popped into her mind followed by an image of him slicing his arm with the scissors.  
  
Concern showing on her face Tea picked up the phone and dialed a number.  
  
"Hello, who is it?"  
  
"Hi Mokuba, it's Tea. Is your brother there?"  
  
"Um... hold on a second."  
  
She heard those little sounds in the background of when someone is getting someone else for the phone and then a voice.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi Seto."  
  
"..."  
  
"Seto?"  
  
"What did you call for?"  
  
"I was just calling to make sure you were alright."  
  
"I'm fine." Click.  
  
Looking at the phone curiously Tea punched in the number again.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, did you-" Click.  
  
Hanging the phone on the receiver Tea sighed heavily as the smile fell off her face. "Yeah... you did hang up..."  
  
***********  
  
Opening up the office door Mokuba peeked his head inside before walking in and standing in front of the desk where his brother was typing busily away at the computer.  
  
"What is it?" He didn't even bother looking up from his work Seto just kept typing as he heard his younger sibling talk.  
  
"I was wondering if you wanted to go play a game or something..."  
  
"Not now Mokuba, I'm busy..."  
  
"Okay..."  
  
Walking out of the room Mokuba looked back in at his brother steadily working. 'He's been in there ever since he went to the movies with Tea... I hope he's ok.' With a worried expression on his face Mokuba ran downstairs and picked up the phone and dialed a number.  
  
"Turtle Game Shop, how may I help you?" Yugi's Grandpa's voice echoed into the phone.  
  
"Hello, this is Mokuba, could I please speak to Yugi?"  
  
"Hold on a sec." And Mokuba listened to the muffled yelling, "Yugi! Phone for you!"  
  
Another phone picked up, "I got it Grandpa! Hello?"  
  
"Hey Yugi."  
  
"Mokuba? Um... Hi... Is something wrong?"  
  
"Sort of, I was just wondering if you knew anything about why Seto has been acting so funny lately."  
  
"Why would I know?"  
  
"Well, I know you're really good friends with Tea, and Seto has been acting strange ever since that day when he went to the movies..."  
  
"What kind of strange?"  
  
"He's been locking himself up in his office even more than usual, he doesn't want to play with me anymore, and all I've seen him eat or drink is coffee and maybe one rice cake... It's really weird..."  
  
"When did you say this started again?"  
  
"It started last Sunday... but I think it was from something that happened on Saturday..."  
  
Yugi shook his head and sighed. 'This is all Joey's and my fault. If we'd only accepted Kaiba then this whole thing wouldn't be happening...'  
  
"Yugi? Still there?"  
  
"Yeah. I'll call you back tomorrow Mokuba, I gotta do some research." Hanging up the phone Yugi ran downstairs and put his coat on.  
  
"Going somewhere?" Yugi's Grandpa came out of the back room and looked at Yugi bolting out the door.  
  
"No time Grandpa, I have to go see something." And with that Yugi ran out the door and headed for Tea's house.  
  
************  
  
Tea was lying on the couch with her arm hanging down when she heard the doorbell. Getting up she ran to the door and opened it.  
  
"Hi Tea." Yugi smiled at Tea before coming in.  
  
"What brings you here Yugi?"  
  
"I just came to find something out..." Yugi was looking around the house as he was talking to Tea and she folded her arms and lifted an eyebrow.  
  
"He's not here Yugi..."  
  
Continuing sort of looking around Yugi waved his arm at her. "Oh, I know that... Mokuba called and told me Kaiba was-"  
  
"Mokuba called you? Is everything alright?" Tea looked concerned but then tried to hide it as Yugi mildly smiled.  
  
"Well Kaiba has been-"  
  
"He hasn't been cutting himself again has he?" This time Tea looked really worried and Yugi shook his head.  
  
"Oh no, it's not that. Wait... Kaiba was cutting himself?"  
  
"Never mind..." Tea looked away from Yugi and then back. "So what HAS he been doing?"  
  
"Oh yeah... Kaiba's been ignoring Mokuba, along with basically not eating anything and-"  
  
"He's not eating anything?"  
  
Yugi rolled his eyes at being interrupted so much. "Yes, he's had just coffee and maybe a rice cake. That's what Mokuba said anyway..."  
  
"What about sleep?"  
  
Yugi shrugged, "Well... That I don't know, Mokuba didn't say anything about that..."  
  
While Yugi was finishing his sentence Tea had picked up the phone and dialed a number. Yugi watched her bite at her nails and then start talking into the phone.  
  
"Hello Seto, please don't hang up! I just need to talk to-" She sighed and handed the phone over to Yugi. "Here, you better call... ask for Mokuba... his brother hung up on me before I could ask..."  
  
Taking the phone in his hands Yugi looked at Tea with despair, "Ok, I guess... If I have to..."  
  
He dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up.  
  
"Hi, Kaiba? Um, could I please talk to Mokuba?"  
  
"What do you want with Mokuba?" Was the toneless answer Yugi got to his question.  
  
"I just want to talk to him."  
  
"Fine..." There was a slight shuffle and then a new voice spoke.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey Mokuba, it's Yugi. Are you near your brother?"  
  
A confused reply came from the other end. "Um... yeah... Why?"  
  
Yugi looked over at Tea. "I need to talk to you about him..."  
  
"Oh, ok." There was a pause and then, "Ok, what is it?"  
  
"You told me that he was basically ignoring you and not eating. But has he been sleeping?"  
  
Mokuba sounded a little unsure when he answered, "Well, I don't know... I go to bed before he does, and I wake up after him... That's about it, I don't know about anything between nine and seven, sorry."  
  
Yugi nodded, "It's ok. Just keep me posted ok?"  
  
"Ok, bye Yugi."  
  
Hanging up the phone Yugi looked over at Tea who had only been hearing half the conversation. "Mokuba doesn't know... We'll have to talk to him later. I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"  
  
Walking out the door Yugi waved goodbye and headed back to the game shop.  
  
*************  
  
After hanging up the phone Mokuba looked over at the clock. 8:30. He came out of his room and went into Seto's office.  
  
"Seto?"  
  
"Yes Mokuba?"  
  
"I'm going to go to bed now..."  
  
"Goodnight." Seto didn't look away from his computer screen as he talked to Mokuba. He just absorbed himself in his work...  
  
Walking into his room Mokuba changed into his pajamas and got into his bed as he was trying to think of ideas on how to see whether his big brother was sleeping or not. A thought struck his mind and he sat bolt upright. Looking over at the clock again he sighed. 8:43. 'All I need to do is pretend I can't sleep and then go into Seto's office. Then I can curl up on the couch and keep opening my eyes to watch whether he's going to bed or not. It's perfect!'  
  
Sitting in his bed Mokuba waited until it was ten o'clock before he went and walked into his brother's office room.  
  
"Seto?"  
  
Leaning out from behind his computer monitor Kaiba looked at his younger sibling.  
  
"Mokuba... You're supposed to be asleep by now..."  
  
Looking the absolute picture of pathetic Mokuba stared up at Seto. "I can't sleep..."  
  
Sighing, Seto went over and picked up Mokuba. Placing him on the couch the CEO unfolded the blanket at the end and tucked it around the little one.  
  
"There... Now try and get some sleep..." And he went back over to his computer.  
  
Opening up his eyes slightly every couple of minutes Mokuba watched his older brother type and sip coffee as the hours passed. And just as he was about to give up from total exhaustion the alarm clock buzzed on top of Seto's desk.  
  
Pushing the button the older Kaiba got up and shook the thought to be sleeping one's shoulder gently. "Mokuba, it's time to get up. We have school..."  
  
Blinking and yawning the little Kaiba sat up wearily.  
  
"You really couldn't sleep could you..." Seto patted his brother's head and watched him walk out of the office and into his room. 'Poor little guy, I hope he's ok at school today...' Taking the last sip of his mug of coffee Seto shut down his computer and went to change in his room. Running downstairs he made himself another cup and downed that before a sleepy figure trudged down the stairs and leaned his small head against the wall resting. Walking over to his little brother Seto patted his head. "Are you gonna be ok at school today?"  
  
Mokuba nodded and opened the door getting into the car and took a short nap in the seat before he was dropped off at the elementary school.  
  
Seto parked his car and walked into the classroom just before the bell rang. The day dragged through and before he knew it school was over and he was on his way home. Stopping at the other school he picked up Mokuba and drove his zombie brother home.  
  
When they got there Mokuba dragged himself out of the car and up to his room where he picked up the phone and dialed Yugi's number.  
  
"Turtle Game Shop."  
  
"Hey Yugi."  
  
"Oh hi Mokuba. What's up? You sound dead."  
  
"I was up all night seeing whether Seto went to sleep or not... and he didn't..."  
  
"Thanks... you should really get some sleep though, it's not good to stay up all night."  
  
Smiling meekly Mokuba fell down onto his bed and closed his eyes. "Ok, bye Yugi..."  
  
He let the phone fall out of his grasp onto the floor as he drifted off into slumber as the afternoon sun shined outside... 


	15. The Plan

Tea walked into the lunchroom and went to sit down with Yugi as the morning's news flowed through her brain. 'So he's not eating, he's not sleeping, and he's locked himself in his office all the time that he's not at school... This isn't good Seto, not good at all...'  
  
Looking into her lunch bag idly Tea stared over at Kaiba sitting in his corner all by himself with no lunch, as usual. Tea glanced at Joey and Yugi hopefully. 'I want to go over and talk to him. But not unless the guys give me their consent...' She opened her mouth and was about to say something but Yugi spoke what she was thinking first.  
  
"Maybe somebody should go check on Kaiba..."  
  
Joey looked up from his food with a leer. "Why?"  
  
Tea blinked over at Yugi who smiled embarrassed as she asked him, "Didn't you tell Joey?"  
  
Joey looked at Yugi clueless. "Tell me what?"  
  
Yugi bit his lip, "Well... Mokuba called the other day and told me that Kaiba has been acting all weird ever since the movie theatre incident."  
  
Shrugging Joey was about to go back to his food. "Heh, like I care..."  
  
Tea glanced at Yugi, "You never told me it was after last Saturday..." She shook that out of her head before turning to Joey. "You should care because it could be partially your fault that... Kaiba... is falling apart. Mokuba told Yugi that he isn't eating, sleeping, or doing anything but work."  
  
Joey shrugged again. "So...?"  
  
Tea glared at him. "SO if we don't do anything about it he's going to starve himself and fall over from lack of sleep." A small thought trickled into her mind, 'And he might go back to cutting himself...'  
  
*************  
  
Seto briefly let his gaze wander over to Tea before his eyes darted back into blank space. 'It's all back to normal now Kaiba. She's with her friends, you have your work... So stop thinking about her.' He rubbed at his temples slightly and sighed letting his thoughts wander off into nothingness as his head began to lean forward and he closed his eyes.  
  
A hand rested down on his shoulder and his eyes snapped open as he sat bolt upright. "Tea!"  
  
Blinking Seto looked around him and saw that very person's hand resting on his shoulder. A jolt went to his nerves and he jumped back from her with his eyes wide with surprise. "Tea! What are you doing here?!"  
  
Making a very quiet shushing sound Tea stroked the side of his head gently. Taking deep breaths Seto relaxed and calmed down as he felt her soft touch. Gazing at her again, out of his panic, he said in a much calmer voice. "What are you doing here?"  
  
She smiled at him, "You were falling asleep..."  
  
Rubbing at his eyes Seto blinked, "I'm just a little sleepy that's all. No big deal..."  
  
"Have you slept at all?"  
  
He looked away from her and smirked slightly, "Why wouldn't I?"  
  
Tea rolled her eyes and sat down next to him crossing her arms. "Mokuba told us you haven't been sleeping... or eating for that matter..."  
  
Turning back to face her he cocked an eyebrow, "Us?"  
  
"Yeah, Yugi and me."  
  
The smirk dropped from his face and he stood up. "You don't have to worry about me Tea. I'll be just fine... Now go back to your friends... I won't touch them... Have a good lunch Tea..."  
  
Tea watched him go back inside before going back to her friends.  
  
"Any luck?" Yugi looked at her hopefully.  
  
Shaking her head Tea sat down next to him and sighed.  
  
"Well... You can at least tell us what he said." Joey came back from throwing his empty lunch bag away.  
  
Tea shrugged, "He said that he'd be just fine and that he wouldn't touch you guys..."  
  
With this Joey began to smile. "Let's just see if we can find a way to get Kaiba back to himself..." As the idea ran through his mind Joey was kind of unsure as to why he was doing it. 'I get Kaiba to bash my face in, he feels better, he goes back to normal. That should work...'  
  
**************  
  
That day after school, and after Joey had dropped everybody off in his car, he drove over to the mansion of the million dollar Kaiba. Pulling into the driveway he got out of the car and rung the doorbell a little reluctantly.  
  
A few seconds later a small bundle of black hair opened the door.  
  
"Hello, may I help you?"  
  
"Um, hey... I came to talk to Kaiba. He around?"  
  
"I'll go get my brother, hold on a second." Shutting the door he left Joey standing outside with his hands in his pockets feeling uncomfortable.  
  
A few minutes later the door opened again and Seto was looking out at Joey.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
Looking up at the sky Joey sighed and answered him, "I need to talk to ya a second..."  
  
Only met by a glare Joey shrugged and muttered, "I can't believe I'm doing this." To himself before speaking again, "Come outside a sec, serious, I just wanna talk..."  
  
Coming out the door and shutting the door behind him Seto continued glaring at Joey. "What is it?"  
  
Joey grabbed the CEO's coat sleeve and pulled him away from the door. Kaiba didn't bother pulling away, he just followed the blonde. After they were a pretty good distance away from the actual house Joey turned around and breathed a sigh through clenched teeth and was about to say something until-  
  
"I told Tea I'd leave you guys alone. I've left you alone, now what more do you want?"  
  
Joey growled in frustration and landed a punch right on Kaiba's right cheek. "We WANT you to stop being such an ass, and we WANT you to start taking care of yourself!" Joey expected a punch coming his way in return and he cringed slightly, but nothing came. Opening his eyes up again he found he was just standing in front of the Kaiba who was staring at him.  
  
"I told you... I'm leaving you guys alone..." Kaiba removed Joey's hand from his shirt collar and walked back to the house slamming the front door.  
  
Joey looked around him bewildered and then got back in his car and started on his way home. 'I guess he really is leaving us alone... Grrrrr, however much I may hate to admit it, I think Tea is good for him...' He sighed and turned a corner. 'Now I just gotta convince the other guys to let them back together...'  
  
************  
  
Tea heard the phone ring and reached across her bed to pick it up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey Tea, ya gotta come to the game shop, I already got the other guys over here and we need to talk to ya."  
  
"Ok, I'm coming..." Tea rolled off her bed and then headed over to Yugi's.  
  
************  
  
Walking into the door Tea stared at all the eyes that met her. "So what did you guys wanna talk about?"  
  
Yugi smiled at Tea and pulled her over to sit with the other guys. "Now, we got something to tell you... It's about Kaiba..."  
  
Tea cocked her head to the side. "And that is exactly?"  
  
Joey chimed in, "Ya see Tea, I went over to his house today... and well... I beat on him a little..."  
  
"You did WHAT?"  
  
The blonde held his arms up in defense. "Whoa! Just hold on a sec Tea. I had a reason."  
  
Tea sat there staring at him with a half glare expression. "And what reason was that?"  
  
Joey sighed and rolled his eyes. "I was trying to get him to beat me up, I thought that would make him go back to normal... But it didn't work. He didn't even TRY to hit me... and ya know, that got me kinda thinkin', why? And the answer is one word... YOU!" Pointing a finger at Tea, Joey crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair with a smug grin on his face.  
  
Looking around at her friends bewildered Tea stuttered, "B-but... I don't get it... I thought you guys hated him? I don't get it..."  
  
Joey sighed and rolled his eyes, "Tea... I got a question for you... Do you like Kaiba? Answer freely, we aren't gonna bite your head off... just answer it..."  
  
Tea bit her lip, "Um... a little... maybe..."  
  
Yugi decided to take over for Joey, "Ok then. Now here's the plan... You have to go spend some serious time with Kaiba. We're making it your mission to make sure he eats and if you can sleeps. Understand?"  
  
"How exactly do you purpose I do this?" Tea folded her arms and glanced over at Yugi who in return sigh and looked up at the ceiling in a sort of God-help-me way.  
  
"We want you to date Kaiba..."  
  
((Question, question, question for all you happy peeps out there! Should I try and tie up the fic or should I keep going for, like, ever? Have in mind I have five more chaps after this one. and still going from that. but I just want to know whether you guys are getting tired of this or if you want me to keep going for all eternity. And just two request ish things, please read my other fic "The Heart of Bakura" and review, I'd really appreciate it ^ ^ and I'd also like to put in a good word for my friend ShadowSpirit, read her fics too. That will be all, please answer!)) 


	16. The Kaiba Car Curse

((I just want to tell all of you people who reviewed that I love you too ^^ ::gives them all a big hug:: I give you chapter 16 as a reward! ::thinks about what some of the peeps said:: A sequel isn't a bad idea actually. HEY! ::brainstorms great idea for the sequel:: Thank you everyone, now I have nice ideas of what to do with myself after I finish this ::gives them another hug:: Now I'll stop talking and let you read. Coca-Cola ENJOY!))  
  
Tea had time to think about what the guys had told her all weekend. 'They didn't want me to date him, now they do... And they want me to spend ALL my time with him?' With a soft sigh she got under the covers of her bed on Sunday night. 'I guess this could be considered a dream come true... My friends actually want me to date him.' She smiled and drifted off into sleep.  
  
*************  
  
Next day Kaiba walked into the classroom and sat down at his desk as he groaned slightly and lean over on his desk. 'I'm so tired...' the bell rang just then keeping him awake even longer.  
  
He watched the teacher walk into the room and call attendance, before reading off the announcements.  
  
"For today's news... the track meet has been rescheduled to Thursday, the school play is on Friday, only five dollars admission... and now time to start class." Rolling a TV out of the corner of the room he turned it on and went to sit down at his desk. "For your social studies project watch this news show. Then pick one topic from it and research, if you can't find anything that interests you then find some current event tonight..." Ignoring the students' moans the teacher went to correcting paper as the class watched the screen:  
  
"Now in immediate news... At the major intersection of I-95 and Route 13 one of the Domino City school buses crashed with a semi. Luckily, this was the only bus on the route."  
  
"Mokuba!" Seto's chair banged against the floor behind him as he stood up staring at the picture of the two burning vehicles with his hands braced against the desk with his eyes burning themselves into the screen.  
  
"Luckily no one was killed, but the majority of the students were injured and are now hospitalized."  
  
Taking no regard to the teacher yelling after him Seto ran out the door and dashed to his car.  
  
*************  
  
Kaiba jumped out of his car and glanced around frantically at all the people being wheeled into the ambulances. Hyperventilating slightly, he was about to dash into the scene when a cop grabbed onto his shoulder.  
  
"May I help you sir?"  
  
Seto tensed and whirled on the officer. "My brother is here... He's about this tall," He held his hand up to his waist. "Black hair, blue eyes... You seen him?"  
  
The cop looked at him blankly. "He's probably at the hospital by now with the rest of the students. Now please sir, I have to ask you to leave. You're in the way..." Turning Seto to face his car the officer walked away from him.  
  
Jumping into his car once again Kaiba sped off to the hospital.  
  
*************  
  
Bursting through the front doors Seto ran up to the counter.  
  
"Do you have a Mokuba Kaiba?"  
  
The secretary typed away at her computer before turning back to Seto. "I'm sorry sir. We don't have anyone of that name in our care right now..."  
  
Seto slightly clawed at the counter. "Are you sure? He was on that bus that crashed this morning. Are you sure you don't have him?"  
  
Still staring at Kaiba she blinked and pointed over to a hallway. "You might try down that hallway... Some of the patients from that accident have not been put on record quite yet."  
  
Striding away from the counter he pushed the double doors open and walked down the hallway looking into each room until he saw a small black head lying in one of the beds. Rushing into the room he looked at Mokuba who appeared to be sleeping. Seto gulped and took some deep breaths while he was trying to keep himself from totally panicking about his little brother. He took Mokuba's smaller hand in his own and patted it while he closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing. 'Mokuba, please be alright... Just wake up. Please wake up...'  
  
**********  
  
Tea looked into the room and watched Seto stroking his little brother's hand and in turn trying to calm himself down. She had followed him here after he had bolted out of the classroom. Walking into the room slowly she slid her arms around his shoulders and whispered to him, "How is he?"  
  
Seto shook his head and sighed, "I don't know..."  
  
Just then the nurse walked in scribbling something on her clipboard and she stopped when she say Seto and Tea in the room. "Who let you in here?"  
  
Tea dropped her arms and let Seto take a step forward. He looked down at Mokuba and then back at the nurse. "The lady at the counter told me I might find Mokuba in here. I'm Seto Kaiba, his older brother. Is Mokuba alright?" He gazed back down at Mokuba.  
  
"Well, Mr. Kaiba... We're going to have to keep your brother overnight, so if you wouldn't mind we'd like you to just fill out these forms and then be on your way." She handed Seto a stack of papers and then pushed him and Tea out of the room.  
  
Tea watched Seto sit out in the waiting room and fill out the forms. After he handed them to the person behind the counter he looked back one last time at the doors leading to where Mokuba was and then he got Tea and led them both to his car.  
  
She continued watching him as he drove home in a total daze. Even when they got there he just automatically got out of the car and went inside up to his room. 'I don't think he even totally realizes that I'm here...' Getting out of the car herself Tea walked into his house and looked around. 'How much do I want to bet he's in his room.' She ran upstairs and opened the door slightly and peeked inside. Sure enough there was Kaiba laying on his back on his bed staring up at the ceiling in a complete trance.  
  
Tea walked over and sat down on the bed next to him. She put her hand on his forehead and watched as his eyes started to come back into reality and he looked at her.  
  
"Do you think he's going to be ok?" He glanced at Tea hopefully and breathed a heavy sigh before going back to staring at the ceiling in a trance.  
  
"Everything will be alright. Don't worry. It'll all turn out the way it's supposed to..."  
  
"I shouldn't have let him take the bus today. I should have driven him. It's my fault he's in the hospital. I should've been there to protect him. It's all my fault." Seto shook his head slightly. Tea wasn't sure if he was really even talking to her, or if he was just ranting on to himself. He kept staring up at the ceiling and shaking his head as she stroked the side of his head gently to try and calm him down. But he was too lost in his own thoughts to even notice her.  
  
'Mokuba... I hope you're all right. If you left, I don't know what I'd do... It's not right for you to die now. You CAN'T die now. I won't let you, I'll protect you... somehow... Oh, please, if there is any way that you can hear me, be all right kiddo. You need to be all right. Don't leave me Mokuba, don't leave me all alone...'  
  
"Seto?"  
  
'Don't die...'  
  
"Seto? Hello?"  
  
'Please Mokuba...'  
  
"Seto!"  
  
'Mokuba...'  
  
"Seto Kaiba!" Tea shouted at him and finally heard an answer.  
  
"Leave me alone..."  
  
Tea leaned over and gave him a hug. "Seto, you don't need to be so worried. The doctors didn't even tell you if there was anything wrong..."  
  
Kaiba just shook his head. "He was so still... He wasn't moving... There had to be something wrong, there just had to be..."  
  
Grabbing either side of his head and staring into his eyes Tea spoke to him firmly, "Listen to me... He. Will. Be. OK... So stop worrying about it."  
  
"But-"  
  
"No. Mokuba will be fine. If there was anything wrong they would have called you. So calm down..."  
  
Kaiba opened his mouth and was going to say something when Tea stopped him.  
  
"No. Listen carefully... He's fine, they probably kept him overnight just to make sure. So shut up, stop thinking about it. And if you can't- Well then, why don't we just call the hospital right now?" She reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and held it out in front of him.  
  
He blinked slowly at the phone and then picked it up. Still staring at it in sort of a daze he dialed the number slowly.  
  
"Hello? Could I please speak to Mokuba Kaiba? Alright I'll wait..."  
  
Tea watched him look around the room nervously until obviously he heard Mokuba's voice because his face perked up immediately.  
  
"Hi! How are you feeling? ... That's good. ... What did the doctors say? ... That's all? Did they say when you could come home?" He sighed and smiled as the conversation continued. "That's good. I'll see you tomorrow then, all right? See you later Mokuba." Hanging up the phone he sighed again and looked at Tea. "He just got a minor concussion. They said he'd be fine though, and I can bring him home tomorrow..." 


	17. Busy

When Seto got Mokuba home the next day after school he immediately put his little brother in his room. Running downstairs quickly he got a big pack of ice and then returned upstairs and gave it to Mokuba.  
  
"Here you go kiddo. In case your head starts to hurt again... How are you feeling?"  
  
Mokuba held the ice on top of his head. "I'm ok... head hurts some, and kinda nauseous. But no need to worry." He smiled up at his brother. It was nice to be home...  
  
Ruffling the bundle of black hair Seto scanned the room one last time before he left to make sure Mokuba would have everything he needed so he wouldn't get bored. "If you need anything just call." And with that he shut the door behind him and went into his office.  
  
Turning on his computer he waited for the system to boot up. He ran downstairs a second and grabbed a cup of coffee before running back to where his computer sang its chime as the desktop appeared. He sat down and took a couple sips of his coffee before he got to work. 'I was overreacting yesterday. Mokuba's just fine, and he'll feel all better in a couple of days. I'm glad...' Sighing he let all other thoughts slip from his mind as he concentrated on his work. Tea's visit yesterday barely registered in his brain as the computer programs and passwords took over his train of thought.  
  
*************  
  
After lunch the next day at school Seto walked back into the classroom and sat down at his desk. As the other students filed in the teacher began to drone on with the lesson. Blinking slowly Kaiba felt his eyelids droop slightly at the constant murmur of the teacher lulled into the background. As the sound filled the back of his head he felt himself leaning forward on his desk as the classroom faded and he slowly drifted into slumber.  
  
Someone shaking him woke Seto up. He opened his eyes and lifted his head off the desk as he saw everyone in the classroom staring at him, especially the teacher.  
  
"How nice of you to join us Mr. Kaiba."  
  
Seto mentally slapped himself for falling asleep. "Sorry..."  
  
With a small giggle going through the classroom the teacher sighed and he turned back to the board where he was finishing up a math problem just before the bell rang.  
  
Getting up from his desk Seto walked out of the building and got into his car. He drove home and immediately made himself a cup of coffee, which he sipped gratefully. 'No more falling asleep Kaiba. Stay awake...'  
  
Walking upstairs with his coffee in hand Seto peeked into Mokuba's room to see him sitting at his desk with the light on and busily working away at his homework. Closing the door again he went into his office and turned on his computer. As he waited for it to boot he sipped his coffee slowly. Just after it finished loading and Kaiba was about to start typing he heard the phone ring. Putting down his coffee mug he picked it up and answered.  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"Hi Seto. How are you?"  
  
"Kind of busy..." Kaiba sighed and rubbed his temples. 'Let her be with her friends. That's what she really wants. Just leave her be...'  
  
"Oh really? That's too bad... I was wondering if you wanted to get some dinner with me..."  
  
"I'm really not hungry..."  
  
Tea shook her head on the other end. 'Sure you're not hungry... You only haven't eaten in like two weeks. Come on Seto, I'm trying to help, but you gotta give a little...' "Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah. I have to go now Tea. Bye." And he hung up the phone. Taking another sip from his coffee he went and started typing at his computer.  
  
*******************  
  
Hanging up the phone as well Tea tapped at the back of it with he index finger agitatedly. 'How am I going to get him to eat? He won't go out to dinner. and if I try to give him food I doubt he'll eat it. So what to do.'  
  
*******************  
  
Tea was about to walk over and sit where she normally did to eat her lunch with the guys when she saw Kaiba sitting in his usual corner. Waving at Yugi and everyone she decided not to sit with them, and she went over to Seto instead. As she sat down next to him she noticed him looking slightly at her.  
  
"Hey Seto."  
  
He shook his head and looked down at the table. "You're friends are going to be mad at you."  
  
Tea blinked at him. 'He's worried about that?' "Oh, it's fine. I talked to the guys and they're all cool with it now."  
  
Looking over at her he smirked. "Yeah, I'm sure. Joey's my best friend in the world. Why wouldn't he want his two buddies together?" He got up to leave and go sit at some other table when Tea yanked him back down.  
  
"Well actually, Joey's the one who said it would be fine in the first place. So you don't have to worry about it."  
  
Still not believing her he looked over at the other table where Yugi and everyone were chatting away merrily. "If they're so fine about it then tell me, what made them change their minds? Both you and I know Joey has wanted to see me dead for a while."  
  
Tea sighed, 'This is harder than I thought it would be.' "The other day Joey went over to your house right?"  
  
He shrugged slightly. "Yeah."  
  
"And he punched you, no?"  
  
Another shrug and a nod answered her.  
  
"Did you hit him back?"  
  
"No."  
  
"That's what made him change his mind."  
  
'She's really trying to get me to accept this, but I don't understand why. Her friends hated her last time. but now they're fine? I don't get it.' He sighed. 'If she really wants this I'll go with it, but I don't want her miserable again.' "Are you sure?"  
  
Tea smiled. 'He's giving in some.' "Yup, they said it was all fine. So don't worry about it." And then she started taking her lunch out of its bag. When she took her sandwich out she took half of it and held it out to him.  
  
He just looked at it and shook his head. "I'm not hungry." And he started to stare out into space again when he saw his younger self pull away from him. Watching the little Kaiba snatch the sandwich out of Tea's hands and sit across from her munching away happily, and then after a few bites noticed his older watching him. With a huge smile on his small face he put the sandwich before Kaiba who just shook his head. His younger self frowned at this. Picking the sandwich up and climbing up on the table he shoved the sandwich into Seto's mouth like a CD-ROM. Automatically chewing Kaiba swallowed and let the food fall into his hollow stomach. Then he looked over at himself who now had another huge grin and he shook his head. "Okay, maybe I was a little hungry." Following this comment little Seto pulled back inside the older one and he came back into reality.  
  
Seto got up and walked to the vending machine and put his fifty cents in for a return of a Snickers. He then came back and sat next to Tea who was smiling slightly as he unwrapped the chocolate and shoved it into his mouth.  
  
Looking over at the guys she saw Yugi give her a quick thumbs up before talking to Joey again and then Tea turned back to Seto. 'Well, now he's eaten something. We keep that habit up and he'll be ok. Next challenge. sleep.'  
  
********************  
  
That day after school Joey dropped Tea off at Kaiba's house instead of at her own home. With a little smile on her face she went up to the front door and rung the doorbell.  
  
********************  
  
Mokuba ran downstairs when he heard the noise and opened up the door to see Tea standing before him.  
  
"Hi Tea." He smiled.  
  
"Hey. Is Seto here?"  
  
"Ya, hold on a sec let me go get him." He left the door half-open and ran upstairs.  
  
Tea sat there twiddling her thumbs by the door until the older Kaiba came down the stairs. "Hey Tea." He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at her. "What brings you here?"  
  
She opened her mouth but no words came out. 'Why AM I here? Hehe, I should have thought about that.' "Um. um." ((You gotta love those filler words!)) "Um. I was just in the neighborhood, and well, decided to drop by." She smiled at him and he shrugged.  
  
"I'm sure. Come on in, no sense in having you stand out there all day."  
  
Walking into the house Tea smiled again and followed Seto into the kitchen where he grabbed an apple off of the table and turned to her. "You want anything?"  
  
Tea just shook her head, and he headed on his way upstairs and closed his office door. Sighing Tea rolled her eyes and went into the library where she took out her books and worked on her homework. After she was finished she walked around the big room and finally picked something to read, which was when she sat down in one of the big plush chairs and began. Hours later she looked at the clock: 10:00. 'School tomorrow, better get some sleep.' Closing the book and taking it with her Tea ran up to where she stayed and went in. There she found a pair of pajamas and a small piece of paper lying next to them on the bed:  
  
If you want me to drive you home just come into the office, but if not then you might need these. -Seto  
  
Tea smiled and changed into them and was about to get into bed when the image of Seto sitting in front of his computer all night came into her mind. Walking out of the room she peered into his office. There he was sipping at his coffee and typing away. Tea didn't know what to do. 'How do I make him sleep? There has to be SOME way. but what? That's the question. Grrr. What can I do?' She sat there racking her brain until the doorknob slid out from her hand and Kaiba was standing in front of her.  
  
"You know we have school tomorrow. You don't want to stay up too late." He scanned his eyes over her. "Or do you want me to take you home in my pajamas?"  
  
Tea shook her head and blushed slightly. "Oh no. I'm gonna stay here. I was just coming to say good night, that's all."  
  
He shrugged, "Good night then." He started to turn back and go to his desk when Tea grabbed his arm.  
  
"Hey, you have school tomorrow too."  
  
Flickering a smile he pointed over to his coffee. "That stuff will keep me going just fine. anyway, I'll go to sleep in a little bit." He then shrugged Tea off him and sat down at his desk where he started typing again.  
  
Closing the door behind her Tea was going to go into her room when an idea formed in her head. So instead of going into her own room she went into Kaiba's instead after grabbing the book. Sliding under the covers she took out her bookmark and started into the story once more.  
  
********************  
  
After a long time Seto got up from his desk and headed to his room. 'Now where were those files my secretary gave me? I might have left them in here.' He opened up the door and went straight to his desk where he shuffled through the papers there until he heard a voice behind him.  
  
"Is this what you call a little bit?"  
  
He turned around to see Tea lying in his bed with a book in her lap. He looked at his watch: 3:02.  
  
"Shouldn't you be asleep by now?"  
  
"Shouldn't you?" She smiled somewhat as his own question was shot back at him.  
  
Shaking his head he went back to shuffling through the papers. "No. I'm fine. I have to find this paper anyway."  
  
Tea left her book on the bed and got up walking over to Kaiba and started shuffling through all the business documents with him. "What does it look like?"  
  
"It's just a bunch of writing with some red ink scribbled all over it. My secretary gave it to me, it's a new idea that some idiot came up with for projecting images."  
  
With a grin on her face Tea held it up. "Could this be it?"  
  
Seto blinked at her for a second. "Yeah, thanks." And then he went to take it out of her hand but she pulled it away and put it behind her back. "Tea, I need that."  
  
Still grinning she shook her head. "You can do that tomorrow, you should be sleeping now."  
  
He glared at her the slightest bit and then headed for the door. "Fine. I'll do that tomorrow."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
He turned around to face her a split second. "Both." He then left the room, leaving Tea with the paper in her hand as she sighed.  
  
"Tomorrow then. I just hope that coffee is as strong as you say it is Seto." 


	18. Tomorrow

And tomorrow came, and the next tomorrow, and the next, until tomorrow was Saturday.  
  
Tea rolled out of her bed onto the floor. Wearily pushing herself up she dragged over to the phone and picked it up. 'I don't see how he does it. I've been calling him every hour at night all week and he doesn't sound the least bit tired, but you look at him and it's clear he's dragging.' She groaned a little and dialed his number.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey Seto."  
  
"Hi."  
  
"I'm coming over, ok?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Ok then, see ya." Tea hung up the phone and got dressed. She grabbed a quick breakfast and then headed over to Kaiba's. When she got there she rung the doorbell and Seto opened up the door.  
  
"Hey."  
  
Tea smiled at him, "Hey." She'd had plenty of time to wake up on her way over so she wasn't feeling as sleepy as she had been. She then looked up at the sky with its puffy clouds slowly floating across. "Nice day today."  
  
He just shrugged.  
  
She looked down at him again. "Here, how 'bout we do this. Instead of staying inside all day and becoming mole people, let's go outside into the sun!" Tea grabbed his arm and then pulled him out the door.  
  
"Um, okay." He let her drag him out along behind the side of the house where it was woody. She pulled him underneath of one of the trees and then to the ground.  
  
"Now we sit here and listen to as many sounds as we can." She watched him lean up against the tree and she next to him with her head lying on his chest while they began listening.  
  
'One, the water. . . Two, the wind in the trees. . . Three, Seto's breathing. Four, his heartbeat. . . . .' She looked up at him for a second and saw he had his eyes closed and was peacefully sleeping. With a happy sigh from herself Tea snuggled against him and continued listening, 'Five. . . Six. . . . Seven. .' and then she too drifted off into slumber.  
  
**********************  
  
Slowly opening his eyes he saw Tea laying on him and the sun was still high in the sky. 'How long have I been here?' He looked at his watch: 4:16. 'Heh, a while.' He then looked at Tea and smiled. 'She's been staying up with me.' "I'm sorry." He whispered this and gently kissed the top of her head.  
  
At this she started moving and her eyes flickered open. Yawning Tea stretched and sat up before she looked at Seto. "What time is it?"  
  
"About quarter past four."  
  
A smile grew on Tea's features. "I guess it's tomorrow then, huh?"  
  
"Guess so."  
  
**********************  
  
The next day after Tea came home from Kaiba's she picked up the phone.  
  
"Turtle Game Shop, how may I help you?"  
  
"Hi Yugi, are Joey and Tristan at your place?"  
  
"Um, not right now. Should they be?"  
  
"Get them there, I'm on my way over now."  
  
********************  
  
Tea walked inside the shop and looked around at Joey and Tristan as she walked over and took a seat. "Hey guys."  
  
Joey leaned over the back of his chair. "So what's the big news you were just dying to tell us?"  
  
She smiled happily, "I fixed our problem. He's all back to normal now."  
  
Yugi then walked in from the kitchen with sodas for everyone. " 'He' as in Kaiba?"  
  
"Yup. I finally got him to sleep yesterday."  
  
With an evil grin Joey snickered. "You got him to sleep did you?"  
  
Tea put her arms up in defense. "Whoa! Whoa! I didn't do anything like THAT! We just, oh never mind, I can't explain it. but he just went to sleep, okay? Isn't that great?!" She clapped her hands together with joy as her smile grew wider.  
  
"That is great, so now you can dump him."  
  
She stood still and stared blankly at Joey, "Um, what exactly do you mean by that?"  
  
He shrugged, "Well I mean Kaiba's all better, you just said, so you don't really need to date him anymore."  
  
"You can't be serious."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Are you even considering his feelings? Do you know what kind of stress this would cause?"  
  
Joey shrugged again, "But you don't need to date him anymore."  
  
She started pacing around the room, "I can't believe you! You hate Seto, then you say he's fine, and now because YOU hate him again you expect me to just dump him too. You aren't considering HIS feelings let alone my own!"  
  
Joey was sitting there blinking as the expression on his face became more and more confused while Tea was yelling at him. "But, Tea, it's Kaiba?"  
  
She whirled and glared at him, "So what if it IS Kaiba? Is there something wrong with that? He's a person too, he has just as much right to happiness as any of you. He has a right to even MORE happiness than you guys by the way you've been acting!"  
  
Yugi cocked his head slightly, "Tea. We don't hate Kaiba."  
  
She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sure, whatever. Just tell that to them." Sending one more glare over at Joey and Tristan she stomped out the door and slammed it behind her.  
  
Tristan blinked at Joey and then Yugi. "What just happened here?" ((Sorry about my little Tristan ignoring, I think it's kind of hard to come up with his character, but hey, I'm gonna give it a shot.))  
  
Joey stared at the door, "I think we just did something wrong."  
  
Yugi looked over at the two of them and sighed, "You know we have been a little inconsiderate to Tea. Maybe we should try and make friends with Kaiba, I mean it seems kind of important to her." He glanced over at the door and then back at his friends.  
  
"We could try, but I'm not sure he would be too keen on the idea." Tristan shook his head and then started to head for the door. "I'm gonna go and catch Tea, be right back."  
  
Joey watched him leave and then turned to Yugi, "Are you serious Yug? We're gonna try and be friends with Kaiba?"  
  
Yugi shrugged, "I guess so Joey, I think this is important to Tea. You saw how upset she got, we can at least give it a try."  
  
******************  
  
Tristan ran down the street and he tried to catch up with Tea. When he finally reached her he just walked beside her as she looked down at the sidewalk and kept walking.  
  
"Hey Tristan."  
  
He shoved his hands in his pockets, "Hey, are you gonna be coming back?"  
  
She shook her head, "Why should I. Nobody cares; they all just want me to feel the same way they do. I think even Yugi does, even though he won't show it. they don't understand."  
  
Tristan watched as a tear rolled down her cheek and he patted her on the back. "It's okay, why don't you just talk to them about it. I'm sure they'd understand. I mean it's not like they haven't done some really whacked out things in the past."  
  
Tea stopped walking and glared at him. "You think I should dump him too, don't you?"  
  
"Uh, well, I mean, kinda, but-"  
  
"You guys don't even know what you've done. You don't know what Seto's done to himself, you just don't understand."  
  
Tristan tried to comfort her but she shoved him away. "Just leave me alone."  
  
"Tea, wait. The other guys said they'd try-"  
  
"Just. Leave. Me. Alone." She then walked away leaving Tristan bewildered on the sidewalk before he began walking back to the game shop.  
  
**********************  
  
Tristan walked into the door with his head hung down and Yugi looked at him hopefully.  
  
"Any luck?"  
  
Tristan shook his head and sat down next to Joey. "No. She thinks we don't care about her feelings, and something about how we just don't understand."  
  
Yugi sighed, "Well, we have to do something."  
  
Joey shrugged, "What can we do? It seems Tea doesn't want our help, so why not let her be."  
  
Yugi glared at his friend slightly as the hurt look on Tea's face flickered into his mind, "That worked so well last time when we ignored her." He was still sore about that; he hated to see Tea upset especially when it was his fault. She was his friend, and they should be trying to help her not hurt her.  
  
Rolling his eyes mildly Joey looked over at Tristan, "Did you get to tell her we were gonna try and make friends?"  
  
"No. She pushed me away before I could say it."  
  
Joey then looked back at Yugi, "She doesn't want our help, why not let her just get it out of her system. We'll be just as friendly as normal and if she wants to hang with us she can, but if she doesn't then fine. She might just need some time by herself right now, everybody needs a little alone time now and then."  
  
Yugi sighed again and shook his head, "I hope you're right Joey."  
  
*******************  
  
Monday at school Tea was still upset at the guys for wanting her to dump Kaiba. 'The nerve of them. They don't even know what we've been through, they don't know he'd tried to kill himself, they don't know he practically DID kill himself. And I really like Seto, I mean I really do, I can't just keep dumping and going out with him and then dumping him again all the time.'  
  
She looked over at Yugi's table and then at Kaiba's corner. She didn't want to sit with him now, not when everything was so confused. Looking around the cafeteria her eyes finally rested on one more person she could sit with who was sitting all by himself at one of the other tables. She slowly headed over there and placed her lunch down across from the silver haired person. ((Hey look, it's Bakura!))  
  
Bakura looked up from his lunch and then his eyes grew wide with surprise. "Hey Tea, what brings you here?"  
  
She sighed and looked over at Yugi's table. "Having some issues with the guys. I don't want to be with them today..."  
  
He cocked his head to the side slightly. "What sort of problem? I'm sure it's something you can work out, you've been friends for so long it can't be that big of a deal."  
  
Tea just shook her head. "It is though, it really is."  
  
Bakura glanced at her curiously, "What exactly is that problem?"  
  
"Kaiba."  
  
"Kaiba?"  
  
"Kaiba." She looked down at the table wearily and sighed.  
  
"What has Kaiba got to do with you?"  
  
"Everything."  
  
Bakura tapped at the table a little agitatedly; "You're going to have to give me more than that."  
  
"I want to go out with him, and I currently am. The only reason I could though was because I was trying to fix a problem Seto was having. Now he's all better again, so they want me to dump him."  
  
"That doesn't seem very like them. Have you talked about it?"  
  
"A little, but the just don't understand how I feel. They just expect me to hate him just like they do, but I can't. I mean, he's just so sweet and helpless. They aren't even giving him a chance."  
  
"Well. maybe you should explain it to them."  
  
'He doesn't get it either, they won't understand even if I tell it to them. I should just leave everybody to himself or herself. My "friends" don't care about me anymore, and Seto wouldn't understand, he just wouldn't, and I don't want to hurt him anymore than I have to.' She sighed and shook her head before she spoke, "Thanks Bakura, but I think I have to do this by myself."  
  
He just shrugged and went back to his lunch, "I understand Tea, just remember that sometimes when you want to solve the problem yourself you really need others to help."  
  
**********************  
  
On the following Wednesday, after being basically ignored by Tea, Seto decided he'd go talk to her.  
  
He walked over to where she was sitting with Bakura and sat down next to her. "Hey Tea, what have you been up to the last few days?" He didn't want to go straight to his point, he was afraid that would cause problems. 'I hope everything is fine, she hasn't been hanging out with Yugi either. that's not a very good sign. She looks so sad, I hope I didn't do anything to cause this.'  
  
Tea glanced sideways at him, "Not much Kaiba."  
  
Seto closed his eyes and felt a burning hole start eating it's way inside his chest. 'She called me that again. It's my fault, now I'm sure of it. Get out of her life now Kaiba, she doesn't want you anymore, there's no reason why she should have wanted you in the first place.' Getting up he walked away from her and back into his corner where he stared into space. 'Who were you kidding when you thought she actually liked you. The only time that she really cared for you was when you were hurting yourself, and now I'm not hurting myself, so she doesn't care. She didn't love Seto Kaiba, she pitied him. she pitied him.' He looked over at Tea for a brief moment as he tried to go back inside himself again, but he found only a wall keeping him on the outside. 'You can't go back in now Kaiba, you've been out for too long. No defenses now, you can't protect yourself, might as well let all the pain come down on you, let it crush you. Let it hurt you, that's what you were meant for. You were meant for pain, you were created to take pain, so take it, embrace it. Don't kill yourself, it won't do any good. just cause pain.'  
  
These same thoughts were running through his head on his way home. Walking through the front door he walked up to his office and did all the work he needed to do, including school, before going into his room. Looking around as the burning feeling ate away at him more and more, he noticed the knife from the first time he'd cut his arms laying on his desk. Picking it up he smiled slightly and started picking away slowly at his arm. It hurt at first, and he didn't care, then the pain just became numbing so he was free to cut all the patterns into the skin that he desired.  
  
He cut three slices into the back of his hand and watched the red liquid seep out slowly before he wiped off the blade and put it inside one of his desk drawers. 'See Kaiba. don't you get it? You deserve this, don't make any big deal about it, don't cause any problems, just keep to yourself, you would've been safer if you had never left there in the first place.'  
  
((Lol! ::smacks herself:: I shouldn't be posting quite this fast. but I thought this chap had a better cliffhanger than the last one ^_^. ANYways, I hope you peeps are enjoying the fic so far. ::Looks at what she just typed in chapter 23:: Why'd I do that? ::smacks herself again:: Awe well, you'll see what I'm doing. As I'm trying to tie up the fic I'm gonna try and stay under 30 chaps. I just hope I make it, hehe. I know how I'm going to end it but the problem is getting there. ::thinks:: Why am I telling you people? ::shrug:: Awe well. I'm gonna stop talking now and go back to happiness typing after I thank you all for your lovely reviews once again. I really appreciate it ^_^ It makes the whole fic worth it. so THANK YOU! And keep reviewing please!)) 


	19. Dreams

((Sorry peeps if this chapter gets a little weird, but it's a dream. And just to tell you I have a basis for the insane dream (not like in chapter five though). The whole thing in ancient Egypt is that after you die you go to the afterlife. To judge whether you can go or not they have this jackal headed god (Anubis) who has this scale and he takes your heart and puts it on the scale and weighs it against this feather of truth or something. If the scale goes up then you led a good life and you can go into the afterlife, but if the scale goes down then you led a sinful life, and well the god, he eats you. That's just a little background information, it's really just like the millennium scale, but not quite, mine is even a little twisted from this background. Anyway, I'll shut up now; you peeps go on and read, and remember REVIEW! ^^))  
  
Late that night after going to bed Seto let his thoughts wander as he slowly drifted off into his own dreams:  
  
He was in a dark void. No floor, no ceiling, no windows. He was just there in nothingness as he watched the swirling array of purples, blues, and black drifting slowly around him. As he looked around him he saw a line of people; all of them had wings and were standing in front of one gigantic person with a jackal head who was holding a scale in one hand. As each person came up to him the giant reached inside their chest and pulled out their hearts while they stood there before him. Placing the heart onto the scale he was holding he watched as it either went up or down.  
  
When the scale sank down the jackal let loose a low growl and swallowed the screaming person whole and then he beckoned to the next one in line. Seto walked and got into the back of the line for some reason unbeknownst to him. He watched the line slowly diminish in front of him and grow behind him until it was just before his turn. He watched the man in front of him walk up to the jackal god and have his heart taken out and put on the scale. He closed his eyes and was obviously praying and didn't see the scale slowly sink to the ground.  
  
The jackal just kept a blank expression on his features and lifted the man off the ground before sliding him down his throat. Taking the feather off the scale he waved his arm at Kaiba to come over who slowly strode up in front of him.  
  
Reaching his hand forward the god phased through Seto's skin and pulled his beating heart from his chest and placed it on the scale. It sank slightly and then the jackal placed the feather on and watched the scale level itself out. Blinking slowly the jackal pulled the two items off and watched the scale level out once again and then he placed them back on and it didn't move at all. He then looked over at Kaiba and spoke in a low flat voice that sounded like it was radiating through the realm. "You are an opposite to yourself."  
  
Seto blankly stared back at him, "What does that mean exactly."  
  
"The scale goes neither up or down. You have led a life of darkness and a life of light. You are at an imbalance and yet a perfect medium. There is neither a reason to stop you nor a reason to let you go."  
  
"I don't understand." Kaiba shook his head to the side ever so slightly as what the jackal was saying tried to sink into his brain.  
  
The blank hollow perfect black eyes stared directly at the icy blue orbs of Seto. "In your life you have been both light and dark. When child you were the brightest of whites and then slowly as you grew the light faded and was engulfed in an orb of the darkest ebony. And then something or someone changed you once again which caused the two to combine into an orb of gray. There is not a light side, nor a dark side, no yin-yang sort of relationship, but they are both intertwined together in a perfect weaving that cannot be separated, only added to. In a few words, you are conflicted with yourself."  
  
Seto let this run through his mind and sighed heavily. 'How does he possibly know this? I don't understand, what is he talking about with my life being both dark and light?'  
  
"You know what I'm talking about Seto Kaiba. Either side of yourself is refusing to admit it to the other, but you know it is true."  
  
Kaiba looked at the jackal and frowned slightly, "Get out of my head."  
  
The god bared his teeth at Seto briefly before taking the heart off of the scale and placed it back inside the body where it belonged. He ran his finger in an X over Seto's chest and then muttered something in an ancient tongue before he reverted back to speaking to Kaiba normally. "You may wish isolation, but that will only cause pain to your light and drive it further beneath yourself. Only if you open your soul to others will the darkness go back inside the recesses where it belongs. Do not develop an opinion on this. Only let it become part of your train of thought or else when you return again the scale will not be in your favor." The jackal headed god slowly faded into the vast darkness along with his line of recipients waiting to pass judgment and left Kaiba all by himself in the endless void until.  
  
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!  
  
Seto's eyes snapped open and he leaned over and pushed the button on his alarm clock. He got up and got dressed before he went into Mokuba's room and woke up his little brother. After that he traveled downstairs and grabbed some breakfast before he drove Mokuba and himself to school.  
  
*****************  
  
However much Tea may have wanted to keep away from her friends she was starting to miss them, and as she went over and sat with Bakura she kept glancing over at them. Inwardly she wanted one of them to come ask if she wanted to sit with them, after she'd yelled at them she felt that is would seem a little stupid to just come back like that.  
  
Bakura glanced over at Tea and watched her keep looking over at her normal table. "You can go back over there you know."  
  
She snapped her head back and looked at him. "Oh, um, I wasn't looking over there. Just staring off into space."  
  
'Yeah, sure.' "You still can go back there, there isn't anything tying you here." He smiled slightly and slowly ate his lunch as Tea glanced over at the table once again.  
  
"Well. I guess so." Getting up she grabbed her food and headed over to Yugi and the gang.  
  
******************  
  
Yugi was leaning on his hand and spinning his food around on his plate with the plastic fork idly. He glanced up at Tea sitting with Bakura and sighed before going back to staring at his food.  
  
Joey gave him a little nudge and smiled, "Come on Yug, spinning it won't make it taste better."  
  
Sighing again Yugi stabbed a piece and stared at it before dropping it back on his plate. "Oh, I know that. Do you think Tea will come back soon?"  
  
Tristan looked at his smaller friend, "Sure she will. She can't stay mad at us forever. Can she?" He glanced over and at Joey who in return rolled his eyes.  
  
"Of course she will. Come on guys, it's not like she died or something. Look she's even coming over here now."  
  
Perking up Yugi looked over and sure enough Tea was heading their way. When she arrived at the table she plopped her stuff down and smiled.  
  
"Hey guys."  
  
"Hi Tea." Joey smirked a little and then glanced at Tristan in an I-told- you-so way, who answered with a roll of the eyes.  
  
"Are you still mad at us?" Yugi's face expressed both hope and sorrow at the same moment as he put this question to Tea. Joey cringed slightly as he hoped that the question wouldn't spark a new anger.  
  
She just shrugged, "Maybe a little, but hey, you guys are my friends."  
  
"So how's Kaiba?"  
  
Joey would've smacked Yugi right then if he had been Tristan. He glared a little at his shorter friend, 'Yug, come on, don't tread on such rough turf.' He was immediately relieved however when Tea answered this question with a simple. "I don't know."  
  
Yugi was about to ask about this when he caught Joey's glance and he decided to be quite. 'I wonder why she doesn't know.' He shrugged and went back to eating his lunch.  
  
*******************  
  
After Kaiba finally decided it was time to stop working that day he went into his room and pulled out the knife again from his desk drawer. With a little smile he made three little slices on the opposite hand from yesterday before cleaning the knife yet again and crawling into bed.  
  
He was in the dark void again and standing before him was the jackal once more. With a blank expression on his face the god shook his head at Seto. "Conflicting with yourself again are we. You did not pay heed to my advice. The darkness is slowly regaining control again over your body. You must gain control of your light and not try to restrain it. If you do not hide your light then your true emotions shall be released."  
  
Seto felt the hole start burning in his chest again as his thoughts wandered to pictures of Tea. Shaking is head he took a deep breath before speaking. "Emotions are just tricks of the brain, mere programs the body has made for itself and fooling you into listening. They aren't really there."  
  
The god reached down into the black expanse and pulled a struggling Mokuba out of the ground by his hair. With a still blank expression of indifference to the moaning cries of the little one he was paining he stared at Seto.  
  
Without thinking Kaiba jumped at the god who was holding his little brother. But when he hit the jackal it was like he had run into a brick wall. Backing up slowly and clutching at his head the sound of Mokuba's cries reached his ears and he once again thrust himself at the one tormenting his little brother. This time however, instead of hitting against the god, the jackal caught Seto by the throat and lifted him off the ground.  
  
"The light is in you, but you restrain it. Look." The jackal released him and lifted Seto's hand in front of his face, who saw a white aura surrounding it. The god then dropped Mokuba who merely dissolved back into the ground and then stared back at Kaiba.  
  
Seto watched the light slowly fade around his hand and the black mist swirled back. He then glared up at the jackal; "You had no right to do that. Mokuba is my brother, he never did anything to you."  
  
Face never changing the god stared blankly back at Kaiba. "That was not Mokuba, that was an illusion. In your point of darkness he was the only thing that kept your light from being completely snuffed out. You should be thankful for that, and not take it for granted."  
  
Seto's eyes hardened at the accusation of taking his little brother for granted, "I'd never do anything like that. Mokuba is the world to me."  
  
The jackal lifted Kaiba's hands in front of his face and turned so the backs were clear to Seto. "You already have." He then dropped Seto's hand and once again faded back out of existence into the black void.  
  
***************  
  
Tea walked into the classroom the next day feeling happy. She was with her friends again. Everything was cool. And of course, when everything is just too good to be true. it really is. So as she was sitting in the classroom waiting for school to begin her eyes wandered over to the one thing that could ruin her bliss. Kaiba. He was hunched over his desk with his head in his hands in a not very normal for Kaiba to be doing sort of way. 'It has been a while since I talked to him hasn't it. I hope he isn't mad at me for ignoring him.'  
  
****************  
  
As it turned out Seto wasn't in the least bit mad at Tea. He was just lost I his own thoughts. 'Why am I feeling like this again? I haven't been like this ever since. then. When Yugi took that part of me. So why is the feeling back? Is what that guy said really true? Have I been taking Mokuba for granted? No, impossible, I would never do that to him. Not on purpose anyway. But then would it be true? Through all that I've been doing to myself Mokuba's feelings never fully entered my thoughts I'd imagine. But I never meant to hurt him. So if I stop hurting myself will it all really be better? I'd doubt that. And what is this "inner light" he's been talking about? Is this the light that has been surrounding people in my dreams? Like it was with Mokuba? And Tea? Is there something inside them that I just don't have? There has to be something I can do. It can't just be this final decision. But what is it? What could I do? He said I had light when I was trying to save Mokuba from him. I saw the light. But what caused it? What could be causing this light to come and go? It doesn't seem to come to me. Why not? In my dreams it constantly surrounds almost everyone. except me. I don't understand. I want to, but I don't. What could be this thing that is apparently so important that my very existence as a soul depends on it? What could it possibly be? Is it the desire to help others? Is it the will to fight? Is it just the plain fact of being a quote unquote, nice, person? What? What?! I just don't know. I don't understand. What could that guy have meant that I "restrain" my inner light? What could he mean? What can I do?  
  
****************  
  
Tea watched him shaking his head with that sort of dazed look on his face and furrowed her brow. 'What could possibly make him worried so much? He looks sort of confused. I hope everything is okay.'  
  
****************  
  
The day passed on, class went as normal, homework was normal, work was normal. Everything just sort of dragged forward as Kaiba traveled through the day and finally fell into bed still thinking about what was the light and why didn't he seem to have it. Until once again, as his eyelids closed and dreams began, the somewhat familiar jackal head appeared out of the dark expanse of Seto's mind:  
  
Kaiba found himself standing before the god once more in the endless realm.  
  
"I see you have been thinking about what I said."  
  
Seto nodded.  
  
"You still do not understand, do you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"And you wish to know, but you do not. And this frustrates you?"  
  
"Well. yes."  
  
The slightest of smiles flickered briefly on Anubis' muzzle. ((It's bugging me, so I'm going to start calling him Anubis, even if Kaiba doesn't know his name.)) "Then ask what you wish me to tell."  
  
Kaiba stared at the ground as the thoughts that had been running through his mind all day resurfaced once more, before he answered, "What is the light and why don't I have it?"  
  
Anubis nodded. "Good questions indeed, now allow me to answer." He then snapped his fingers and the dark surrounding suddenly switched to a white expanse.  
  
Seto looked around himself before looking at Anubis again whose colors had been reversed. So instead of a black face and appearance his while body was white with a black mist sharpening the more distinct figures such as the outline of his body.  
  
He was about to say something when the jackal pointed at Kaiba who then looked at himself. He was the exact opposite of Anubis. Black all through with white drifting around him and there was a globe of light swirling inside his chest, which he stared at. "What the-"  
  
"To answer your questions; you do have an inner light. It's just suppressed into that orb you see. And for your second question." He snapped his fingers again and the colors shifted back to normal. "The light is various things: Trust in yourself, trust in others, protecting those that you care for, being courteous to those around you, the will to live, the will to love, believing in dreams, believing your heart versus you mind. all sorts of things that can be summed up into the category of your heart. Some posses more darkness inside themselves than others. Take your classmate Bakura for example." With another snap of the fingers a warp colored Bakura stood next to them. "He has and outer light, not an inner one, and quite another part of him that he keeps to himself." He snapped his fingers again and Bakura disappeared. "You on the other hand keep to yourself, but in an entirety. Except for a few choice moments when you set your light free." A picture appeared next to them flashing scenes of playing with Mokuba before it went black once more. "But I see you recently have been conflicting with yourself in a quite a rapid sense." Pictures of him and Tea appeared with the colors reversed and the orb in Seto's chest would spread and glow until it was taken back down to the smaller size by the black aura. "This is my last visit to you Seto Kaiba, and hear this before I depart. Your light will surface if it is allowed. And Tea is a good thing for you, let her help."  
  
Seto could see Anubis was about to fade away again. "Hey wait!"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Why have you been helping me?"  
  
The jackal held up the scale and feather with a slight smile, "It is my duty to save lost souls from reaching me before their time." And with that he disappeared not without sending one last image into Kaiba's brain: A picture of himself walking around his room with a bloody knife on the desk and his wrists oozing red liquid until lastly. he was lying on the floor limp with a pool of blood surrounding his hand and his eyes glazed over as he lay there on the floor lifeless. Dead. 


	20. I Need Help

Seto walked into the lunchroom the next day and sat down in his corner, still a very confused person. 'That's what would have happened isn't it. I would've.' He shivered and rubbed his wrist as the picture flashed back into his mind. 'I don't think I'd ever go that far, but then again. I sort of have already but. I would never-' The image flickered through again and he grabbed at his wrist once more. 'Just stop thinking about that Kaiba, stop thinking about it.' He glanced over at Tea's table and then back down at his hands. 'What did he mean by "my light will come if allowed"?' He sighed, 'I don't need help I-. can't do this by myself.' With another sigh he slowly got up and walked over to the other table where he was met with four pairs of eyes.  
  
"May we help you?" Joey glared up from his food at the CEO.  
  
"I need to talk to Tea. alone."  
  
Joey continued glaring at him, "Anything you want to say to her you can say in front of us."  
  
Tea opened her mouth and was about to say that it was really fine and that Joey should mind his own business, but before she could say anything Kaiba sighed and slid down into the seat next to her. "Fine." He narrowed his eyes slightly at Joey for a brief moment and then turned to Tea. "I need some help."  
  
Tea looked at him curiously, "Help?"  
  
With another sigh Seto briefly showed Tea the scabs forming on the back of his hands before shoving them back under the table and into his pockets. "Yeah, help."  
  
"Oh. that kind of help. But wouldn't that be better for like a therapist?"  
  
Kaiba looked around at all the eyes staring at him and then back at Tea where he put his head in his hands and then peered through his fingers at her. "No. I really don't think it would."  
  
Tea watched him pick up her fork and start twirling it in his fingers idly, "You sure? They'd probably do a much better job than I would."  
  
As she said this he began to squeeze the fork while he stared at her. Noticing the implement puncturing his thumb he then placed it down on the table again and locked gazes with her. "I'd seriously doubt that. I mean-" He glanced around at the others again and breathed a heavy sigh before he leaned his forehead against the table. "Please Tea. I need you."  
  
She bit her lip uncomfortably, "Well, okay. If that's what you really want."  
  
"Thank you." With a slight smile he headed back over to his corner and let his head fall into his hands once more and sighed as the awkwardness of the situation tried to play out of his system.  
  
******************  
  
Yugi glanced over at Kaiba and then back at Tea and blinked at her. "So I guess you weren't lying."  
  
She cocked her head at him. "About what?"  
  
"About him cutting."  
  
"Why would I make that up?"  
  
"Well, I don't know, you may have had a reason."  
  
Tristan lifted an eyebrow at the two. "You guys knew that he was doing that, and you didn't say anything?"  
  
Joey smirked, "Heh, why would they tell us?"  
  
Tea rolled her eyes at them. "The only reason I didn't tell you guys is because I didn't want a big deal out of it. Anyway, he hadn't been doing it for a while, I thought it might have passed."  
  
"So are you really gonna be Dr. Tea?"  
  
She stared at him blankly. "No, I'm going to blow him off and give him some scissors."  
  
"Oh, all right then."  
  
Tristan smacked his blonde friend on the back of the head. "She was being sarcastic you idiot."  
  
Joey grinned, "O' course. I knew that."  
  
"Suuuuuuuure you did." Tristan shook his head.  
  
Yugi glanced at Tea, "So do you have a plan?"  
  
She blushed slightly and smiled, "Well, no. But I'll think of something." '.I hope.'  
  
Joey grinned across at Tea. "You could always get a pair of big thick glasses and have them hang off your nose as ya sit there with a pad of paper going, 'Yes. I see. So how did that make you feel?'" He imitated this as he turned to Tristan. "Would you consider yourself a happy person?. Yes. Hmmm. Oh would you look at that! Time's up, that'll be five million dollars." He held out his hand to Tristan.  
  
"Sorry doc, but my big smoozy company went bankrupt so now I don't have any money." He then turned out his pockets and glanced pathetically at Joey as they continued their charade.  
  
Teas peered over at Kaiba who was still hunched over in the corner and then back at her friends. "Come on you guys. Stop it."  
  
But Joey continued on in his pretend dignified manner. "Oh yes, I see. Well I'm afraid I have to call the authorities that will just have to confiscate all your duel monsters cards."  
  
Tristan's face froze in mock horror. "Not my cards." He fell to the floor and grabbed onto Joey's pant leg. "Anything but my cards!"  
  
Tea's gaze darted back and forth. "Come on. I'm serious. Stop it."  
  
Joey stared up into the sky and then looked idly at his fingernails. "Well I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid that's all that will be able to pay for this session."  
  
Tristan fell into and even more pathetic act. "Oh please doc, you gotta spare my cards. You just gotta! I don't know what I'd do without my blue eyes"  
  
Tea gritted her teeth. "Guys. people are starting to stare."  
  
Joey just shook his head and continued. "I apologize Mr. Kaiba, but there's nothing I can do. You'll just have to give them peacefully or we'll be forced to confiscate them from you forcefully."  
  
At this Tristan jumped up from the floor and held his hands out in front of him in a karate-chop formation. "No one better try, I know kung-fu! Hi-ya!" He smacked his hand down onto the table.  
  
Joey just continued acting like a snobby psychiatrist. "Please sir, you are creating a scene."  
  
"Never! Bwahaha! The amazing Seto Kaiba never looses control!"  
  
Yugi glanced around at the growing number of heads staring in their direction and tried to help Tea. "Guys, just forget it. Sit down already."  
  
But the two soldiered on.  
  
"Mr. Kaiba sir, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to be seated."  
  
"You'll never take me alive! If I loose my cards I won't be able to make fun of people I beat anymore! Like that sniveling puppy, Joey!"  
  
The blonde dropped his act for a second. "Hey." Then he regained his composure. "Well at least I don't have to hit people with briefcases for picking on my shrimpy brother."  
  
"How dare you insult my brother! He may be short but he can beat me at duel monsters, and I'm the world champion!"  
  
Joey was rapidly loosing his act. "Not anymore, Yugi beat you, remember?"  
  
"Yes, but I beat him!"  
  
"Only by threatening suicide!"  
  
"It's a strategy!"  
  
"Ya, a BAD one!"  
  
"Well at least I have a huge mansion!"  
  
"That you live in by yourself!"  
  
"Mokuba's there too!"  
  
"But what about your parents?!"  
  
"It's not MY fault they-"  
  
"SHUT UP!!!"  
  
The cafeteria went silent as all eyes fell onto Kaiba.  
  
"You people think you're so smart? Fine. But I'm not going to be the fool that sits and listens to you." His eyes burned deeply into Joey and Tristan before he marched out of the cafeteria.  
  
The two of them finally noticed that the whole room was looking at them, and with little mutters of how they were just joking they slowly got back into their seats and tried to absorb themselves in their lunches.  
  
********************  
  
Marching down the hallway towards the doors Seto let hot tears slowly creep down his face as he gritted his teeth. 'If this is the way I get repaid for asking for help. well then fine. Forget it. I won't listen to your advice.' He glared at the ground as he shoved the door open and headed away from the school.  
  
As he was walking through the parking lot he stopped and stared at the fence. 'That should work.' He clenched his right hand and used his left to roll up the sleeve as he strode over to the metal meshing. Placing the back of his arm on top of one of the diamond figures with it resting at his elbow he quickly jerked his arm back, raking it against the sharp metal. 'That is for ever listening to you!' He rotated his arm slightly and placed it on top of the fence again. 'This is for even Thinking I deserved help!' He yanked his arm swiftly back and then rotated it again onto the fence. 'And lastly this. This is for being the fool I am and believing that it would get any better!' He whipped his arm back quickly and then stared at the three slices beginning to drip red liquid onto the ground.  
  
"Is this what you wanted?!" He stared at his arm and clenched his jaw. "Do you want me to have pain?!" He held his arm up at the sky. "Well here it is! You can stop now! You can leave me alone for once in my life! Are you happy?! Are you happy now?!!! Now that you've hurt me in every way possible, are you finally happy?!!!!!"  
  
He fell down to his knees and clutched at the fence as his head hung down. Letting the tears slowly trickle down his face and onto the ground he whispered, "Are you finally happy?"  
  
******************  
  
It was his fifth birthday party. The cake had just been brought out and his mom was cutting it into pieces.  
  
"Which one do you want?" She smiled warmly at her son as she held the knife above the white birthday cake with her other hand resting on her bulged stomach.  
  
Seto stood up in his chair and looked over the cake before pointing. "I want the first half of my name please! And the other half can go right here." He pointed to the chair next to him with a happy grin.  
  
His mother smiled and cut the two pieces. "Why do you want both?"  
  
He blinked at her as if she should already know. "One's for my little brother."  
  
Seto's father came into the room and chuckled at this comment. "And what makes you think he's coming today?"  
  
Seto's face lit up with a grin. "Because he's gonna be one of my birthday presents of course." He then picked up the piece of his cake his mother had given him in his hands and started licking off the frosting.  
  
With another chuckle his father wiped off his son's face and lifted him onto his shoulders. "The baby will come when he's ready."  
  
Seto leaned over so he could see his father's face. "But he should be ready NOW!"  
  
His mom walked over and lifted him down off his father's shoulders and placed him back in his chair. "You'll just have to wait Seto. He'll come soon enough. Be patient. Good things come to those who wait."  
  
******************  
  
Kaiba closed his eyes and sighed. "Right Mom. but how long do I have to wait?" Looking up into the sky he took his sleeve and wiped his eyes. "How long till it all gets better?"  
  
******************  
  
Tea pulled at her hair and groaned. "How thick can you guys possibly get?"  
  
Joey rubbed at the back of his neck. "We really didn't mean anything by it."  
  
She glared at him, "Oh you didn't did you? Well when did it seem like a good idea to start making fun of him?"  
  
"Hey, come on Tea, lay off. We were just joking." Tristan put it.  
  
"Well was it funny when everyone started staring at you?"  
  
"Um. Not really."  
  
"Was it even funnier when you picked on his brother?"  
  
"Well. no."  
  
"Then what was so hilarious that you had to pick on him Right after he'd told us he'd been cutting himself, and Right when he was obviously upset about something? What could possibly have been going through your minds?"  
  
"Okay! We didn't have a reason. We're idiots. There was nothing funny about it at all. All right?" Joey huffily went back to his food.  
  
Yugi just sort of watched the whole thing going on and finally decided to say something at this point, "So what did you guys think of that math test?"  
  
All three people stared at him like he was insane, but Yugi just continued. "No, really. I mean, I thought it was pretty easy but." He looked over at Tristan hopefully.  
  
Blinking at his shorter friend for a moment he finally got an Oooh-I-get-it expression on his face. "I thought it was okay, I'm not that good at math though. But not as bad as Joey." He smiled and nudged the blonde who immediately fell out of his mood as the conversation toned down.  
  
"It's just a bunch of numbers to me. When will we ever use this stuff anyway? Just give me a calculator and I'm happy."  
  
Tea smirked at this and stared at the fork in her hand that was slightly tipped red from Kaiba. 'I hope you aren't doing anything stupid right now Seto.'  
  
********************  
  
School was not high on Kaiba's list of things to do today. He found himself walking down the sidewalk next to a black iron fence. He looked through the bars at the smooth gray stones put into lines and scattered with flowers. Without really thinking he wandered through the gate and down the aisles of graves until he was standing in front of two stones. Falling to his knees he stared at them.  
  
"Hello Mom. Hi Dad." The works choked out of his throat. "It's been a while, hasn't it." He felt more droplets trickle down his cheeks and swallowed. "How've you been? Good, I hope."  
  
Slightly laughing at himself he stared up at the sky. "What am I doing? It's not like you can answer. You never can, and I know that, but."  
  
He rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands as more tears poured out of his eyes. "Why did you have to leave? Why did you have to leave me all by myself? I miss you, I miss you so much. No one would adopt Mokuba, they only wanted me. I was so happy when finally somebody came, but, Gozaburo, he was. He didn't feel. He didn't CARE. All he wanted was somebody to take over the company, that was it. You left me all by myself with him. Why didn't you protect me? Why didn't you somehow stop him, or find some way to give me hope?. I needed you then. I need you Now. Why did you have to leave me? Why did you have to die? Why?"  
  
There was no answer. There wasn't going to be an answer. ever. No matter how long he was going to sit there, there wasn't going to be an answer. The sun would keep shining, the clouds would keep slowly drifting across the sky, and the wind would keep blowing the leaves. But no matter what, no matter what he did, there wasn't going to be an answer.  
  
Seto knew this. He knew that even asking in the first place was a ridiculous concept. And slowly getting up he sighed and looked at the graves one last time before turning on his heel and leaving. 


	21. The TV

Walking into the house Kaiba sighed and fell down on to the couch in the living room. Staring at the blank TV for a few minutes he then got up and searched through the cabinets until he found the thing he was looking for.popcorn. ((*giggles and thinks of Joey*)) Shoving it into the microwave he leaned against the counter until it was done. Grabbing the bag out, he fell back onto the couch and turned on the TV with the remote. Taking it in hand he planted his thumb in the channel button and started surfing the channels. 'You think too much Kaiba. Why not rot your brain with this garbage.'  
  
*****************  
  
Getting off the bus Mokuba stepped in the front door. He headed for the stairs and was about to go up them when he heard the sound of voices with a random mix of music like when you're skipping through, trying to find the right radio station.  
  
Looking around him Mokuba peeped into a couple of the downstairs rooms and then the kitchen. Not seeing anyone there he headed into the living room where he saw the television flipping through channels. Creeping around the back of the couch he peeked over and saw his older brother, three empty bags of popcorn around him and one in his lap, eyes glued to the screen, and thumb clicking away like mad.  
  
"Um.hi Seto." Mokuba blinked at him with a sort of confused expression.  
  
"Hey kid." His eyes never left the screen.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Watching TV."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because."  
  
Mokuba watched the ever-changing screen. "Aren't you supposed to stop on one channel?"  
  
Seto looked away from the screen just long enough to give Mokuba a hard stare before going back again. "No."  
  
Backing away from his older brother he headed up to his room shooting a few wary glances at the couch. 'Okay, that was weird.why is he watching TV?' Mokuba ran back through his mind and in all his life with Seto he'd never seen him watch anything but the news, if he watched TV at all, which was rare. 'It's probably just for some reason or another. he's fine.' He tried to shake it out of his head and pulled out his schoolbooks as he tried to convince himself that everything was all fine, and there was nothing to worry about.  
  
*****************  
  
Running down the stairs the next morning Mokuba grabbed a bowl of cereal and was about to head out for the bus when he heard the sound of the television again. Creeping into the living room he leaned over the back of the couch and stared at Kaiba sleeping there. The number of popcorn bags had gone from the original three, to seven.  
  
Mokuba walked around and shook his brother's shoulder "Um.Seto?"  
  
His eyes flickered open. "What?"  
  
The smaller wrung his hands together uncomfortably. "Aren't you going to school?"  
  
There was a blank stare as Seto sat up and started flickering through the channels again. "No."  
  
"Why?"  
  
With an exasperated sigh Kaiba glanced sideways at him. "I'm just not. Now get going or you'll miss the bus."  
  
"Um.o-okay." He nervously shuffled out the door and climbed onto the bus that pulled up shortly after. Staring out the window at his house he bit his lip. 'Why is Seto being so weird? He shouldn't be acting so.I dunno. But not like this.'  
  
****************  
  
Tea looked at the classroom door hopefully. 'Where is he? Why isn't he here yet?' She bit her lip and kept staring at the door 'Come on Seto. Where are you?' Yugi leaned over and patted her on the back. "Hey, don't worry about it."  
  
She looked between him and the door and gnawed at her fingernails. "I know, It's just that - I guess I feel responsible, sort of."  
  
Shrugging he gave her another pat. "Don't. It'll be fine."  
  
The bell rang and Tea looked over at Yugi in an are-you-sure way, which he answered with a nod right before class began.  
  
********************  
  
Tea kept looking for Kaiba at lunch too. She even walked home to make sure she didn't miss him.  
  
Upon reaching her house she looked out at the road one last time before walking inside.  
  
She climbed the stairs up to her room and grabbed the phone as she plopped down on her bed. After dialing she placed the phone to her ear and listened for an answer.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
Tea heard the faint sound of a TV in the background. "Hi Seto. How are you?"  
  
"Fine.just fine."  
  
She noticed the snap in his voice "Um, could I talk to Mokuba?"  
  
Kaiba sighed agitated. "If you just want to talk to him to find out about me, don't bother. I've been sitting on the couch all day filling my mind with pathetic drivel of daytime TV. I have popcorn, the remote, I fell asleep on the couch last night, I haven't picked one channel to watch and the button is starting to wear off, in other words I'm happy, just dandy, couldn't be better, fine!"  
  
Tea heard a click and the dial tone after that.  
  
Turning the phone off she looked around her room wondering what to do until an idea formed in her mind. Slipping on her shoes she grabbed a bottle of water and headed out the door.  
  
*******************  
  
Kaiba sat on the couch and continued melting the remote as the time crawled by and the clock continued ticking.  
  
Staring at the television he felt a drop of water fall onto his head. Feeling at the top of his head he looked at his finger being slightly damp and then back at the screen.  
  
Shortly after he felt a few more drops fall on his head and he snapped his hand to his hair and looked at the ceiling again before going to the TV once more.  
  
A few moments after that, more drops fell on his head and he launched his hand up into the air and grabbed something. Pulling his hand back down he looked at the plastic bottle now in it. "Mokuba?" He leaned over the back of the couch and didn't see anyone so he turned back to the TV. which was off. Looking around the couch for the remote, he couldn't find it, he got up and turned the television back on. When he got back to his chair it was already occupied with a smiling figure who was tossing the clicker up and down in her hand.  
  
"Looking for this?" She grinned and took a sip from the water bottle he'd left on the couch.  
  
"When did you get here?" He started picking up the scattered popcorn bags.  
  
Clicking the TV off again she smiled and shrugged. "Oh, you know. little bit ago."  
  
He finished gathering the popcorn and went to throw them out in the kitchen. When he came back he leaned over the back of the couch and snatched the remote out of Tea's hands. "Well, would you mind moving out of my spot?"  
  
"Actually, I would." She grabbed one of the couch pillows and nuzzled into it.  
  
With an annoyed sigh he walked over and stood in front of her with his arms crossed. "Would you please move anyway?"  
  
She opened her eyes for a second and looked at him before shutting them again with a smile. "No, I don't think I will."  
  
Blinking slowly he smirked slightly. "Fine." He then scooped her up in his arms and brought her over to one of the chairs. While he was heading over Tea wrapped her arms around his neck. When he got over to the chair he put her down and tried to stand up but her arms were locked solidly around his neck. He stared at her in a no-nonsense way.  
  
"Please, let go of me."  
  
Still with a smile on her face she shrugged. "Well. are you done watching TV?"  
  
Pulling her arms apart forcefully he walked back over and fell onto the couch where he clicked on the television and started melting the remote again. "No."  
  
Tea sat on the edge of the chair and glared at him, dropping her playfulness she jumped up and turned off the TV and stood in front of it. "Yes you are."  
  
Clicking the television on again he ignored her and went back to changing channels.  
  
With an aggravated roll of the eyes she grabbed the water bottle and unscrewed the cap and stared at him. "Are you sure about that?"  
  
He didn't look away and continued flipping through.  
  
Sighing slightly Tea shrugged and turned the bottle wrong side up right over him.  
  
Seto jumped up and looked at the water splashed over him. "What the-! What'd you do that for?!"  
  
She shrugged again and slowly re-screwed the top on the now empty bottle. "You asked for my help didn't you?"  
  
"Well, Yeah. But that didn't include dumping water all over me!"  
  
She smiled with a slight hint of enjoyment. "It got you off the couch." Walking over she grabbed his hand and left him up the stairs into his room. Then she went over to his dresser and picked out some clothes, chucked them at him, and headed for the door. "You get changed, I'll be downstairs. If you aren't there in five minutes I'm coming back, got it?"  
  
He shook his head dumbly and started taking his wet shirt off just before she left the room.  
  
Closing the door behind her, a little smirk appeared on her lips as she ran down the stairs. 'He looks good without his shirt on.' She giggled and then patiently waited in the front hall until Seto came down the stairs three minutes later.  
  
Tea then snatched his keys off the table and grabbed his arm once again where she yanked him out the door and into his car. She took the drivers seat and put the keys in the ignition as she watched him buckle in with a sigh. Starting the car she pulled out of the driveway and drove down the road with a few glances over at Seto. He just kept staring out the window as he leaned on his hand and sighed. Her face began dropping its forceful tone as she continued watching him. After a couple of minutes she finally decided to say something to him, "Hey, are you ok?"  
  
Turning from the window he stared at her and half smiled. "Oh, I'm just fine. Why wouldn't I be? Of course my life is falling apart, but you know, who cares about that?" He didn't bother hiding his sarcasm and then went back to staring into space.  
  
Tea sighed and pulled over to the side of the road. "No, I'm serious. What's wrong?"  
  
He turned again and half glared at her. "I told you. Everything is wonderful. Joey and Tristan are by far my best friends, and I heard Yugi just joined the NBA."  
  
She rolled her eyes and breathed another sigh of frustration. "Seto. I'm sorry about them. I guess they just got a little carried away or something. I'm really sorry. I tried to stop them, but you know how stubborn they can get. You should've said som-"  
  
"That's not the problem."  
  
"Um, come again?"  
  
"That, is not, the problem."  
  
She looked around her confused. "Then what on earth are you upset about?"  
  
He shook his head and closed his eyes. "Have you ever denied something for so long that it became almost a part of you?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well. You know my parents died. I told you that. You probably also know about the orphanage and how the kids were mean to Mokuba. It's possible you may even know about Gozaburo." He clenched his fist at this last name. 'May he rot in hell.' "When you know this stuff it's easy for you to accept, it's not happening to you. But I never really accepted my parent's death. I acknowledged it, but it didn't really sink in. It was never allowed to. I didn't get to visit my parent's graves and say goodbye to them, I only saw them once. at the funeral. And just yesterday, I went there again, I don't know what exactly drove me there. And I talked to them, I talked to those rocks signifying that they were gone, and the thing is. most people would find that sort of soothing, or at least helpful to talk to them. but it didn't. Because I knew they were rocks, just cold hard stones in the ground and there was no special significance to them at all. And that's when it started sinking in that they were gone, and they weren't coming back. Do you know how that feels? To know that no matter what you do you're destined to be all alone by yourself for the rest of your life? It eats at you, it just keeps eating at you until you want to punch yourself so hard that you go unconscious so you can't feel it anymore. That's why I didn't come to school, I was trying to escape it all with that stupid television. I was trying to bury it all down so that it would never come back. I hate that television, I hate my house, I hate school, I hate my life. My whole life has just gone downhill and no one has been there to help me. No one at all. Nobody gives a damn about Seto Kaiba. 'Oh he'll be fine, that's just Kaiba the egotistical tightwad who everybody hates.' They don't care. They shouldn't care. And everyone in the whole fucking universe has abandoned me to take care of myself. Well I'm sick of it, just plain sick of it. I can't take care of myself forever, there has to be some person out there who gives enough to care at all. But even when I think someone has come they just end up hurting me, adding to the pain. Remember what I told you? People are pain, life is pain, it's all a pain that just keeps digging away at your flesh until you fall away into nothingness. Maybe I shouldn't have asked for your help, it's not like it did me any good. You probably don't even know how hard it was for me to even ask. I've always been told to take care of myself. No one ever said, 'Hey it's ok Kaiba. Go ahead and cry. I'm here for you.' They all just kept walking, ignoring me, afraid of me. anything but caring. So I shut myself away, buried myself even deeper into the computer programs that I'd come so familiar with in my training. And then you come along, you start taking care of me. I liked that, it was nice to have someone actually taking care of me. I didn't want to admit it, but it was. And then I started coming out of my little hollow to spend more time on the outside, but that just hurt me more. Finally now that I've come this far. I can't be happy again the way I was. It's ruined. I've been hurt in everyway possible and I can't do anything to stop it. You probably thought I've been insane to be cutting myself, but you didn't know what I was thinking. I think I deserved it. Somehow, in a way, it was actually sort of comforting to have a pain that I actually had control over." He smirked and looked over at her as he rolled down his right sleeve and showed her the long gashes he'd made there the day before. "I bet you think I'm insane. For all I know I may be, but I keep going, and I haven't killed myself. yet. But that doesn't concern you, that concerns Seto Kaiba, just Seto Kaiba, not Tea Gardner or Yugi Motou. just Seto Kaiba. Not anyone else. just Seto Kaiba." He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door. Sending a dead stare straight into Tea's eyes he muttered, "I doubt you understand what it feels like." And with that he shut the door and started walking down the road back in the direction of his house. 'I said too much. 'Shut up kid, nobody likes a whiner.' A lovely line from Gozaburo. Heh, maybe he was right, the bastard, maybe I should just be quiet and keep to myself. I'm sorry Tea, I really care for you, but I think I have to get through this one alone. like always. alone.' 


	22. Dream Come True

((*looks at all her reviews* I want to thank all you nice people once again for reviewing. I'm just glad more people like my fic than don't ^_^ * reads the one that said her fic was pointless * Well. If any more people are motivated to flame me. please don't. It's a real downer. And for all you people who were begging for real ACTION in this fic, well HA =P You aren't going to get any, my fic goes the way it does and that's not my fault, most people like it and I'm not changing it for you. Well anyway, I'm going to let all the nice people keep reading, and pray that I don't get more reviews that are kinda bad. But ok, here you go, chapter 22. There are only 2 more chapters to go ^_^))  
  
Upon reaching his house he walked inside the door and groaned as he rubbed at his temples. He looked at the gashes in his arm and then went upstairs where he fell on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. 'Well, what should I do now. Work? No. my head isn't there right now. Game, some sort of game.' Sitting up he traveled back downstairs and into the hallway where he went up to a closet and opened the door. Looking inside he saw a hole bunch of card decks and then at the very bottom a chessboard. Pulling the box of wood out he tucked it under his arm and ran back upstairs.  
  
Sitting on his floor he opened the board up and dumped the pieces onto the floor. ((You know it's one of those things that folds into a box and the pieces are inside? Well, it is.)) Placing the board flat on the rug he picked up the pieces slowly and methodically placed them in the appropriate places. When he was about to place the last pawn in its place he stopped and looked at the black wooden piece in his hand. 'I haven't played this game in a while either. I used to love chess.' He reached inside his shirt and clicked open the little picture case and looked at Mokuba. 'Who would ever think that one game of chess could change my life forever. A picture flashed into his mind of his last move against Gozaburo. Then he sighed and put the pawn down. 'That stupid, stupid chess game. I wish I had been a better judge of character then. I wish I was now, but especially then. Maybe my life wouldn't have been so bad if I had just gotten adopted by a normal family. One where they don't force their children to become bosses of a big company even before they've graduated high school. I'm glad he died, he deserved it. That stupid bastard.  
  
******************  
  
((YAY! More Kaiba chibiness ^^))  
  
Peeking from behind the big office door little Seto stared at the man sitting in the office. Walking in slowly he held his hands behind his back and shyly stood before the desk.  
  
"You wanted to see me sir?"  
  
Gozaburo got up and stepped out from behind his desk to stand in front of Seto. "You're late."  
  
Seto stared at the floor and mumbled. "I-I'm sorry."  
  
Shaking his head the older man gave a hard glare down at his young trainee. "Being sorry will get you nowhere. Only being on time will. Now give me your disk.  
  
Reaching into his pocket little Kaiba pulled out a black disk and handed it up to the man.  
  
Gozaburo went back behind his desk and put the disk into the computer. He ran down through the text full of programs. "These are pathetic. I thought I told you to make them more complex."  
  
"D-didn't I make them long enough?"  
  
The older man glared down at him. "These aren't even worth typing. Now do the assignment over, and you also have to make up another set of programs to complete some useful task. Now go! And make sure it's done right. You have until tomorrow afternoon at three."  
  
Seto glanced hopefully out at the window. "C-can't I go play outside for a little bit?"  
  
Gozaburo stood up and started pacing back and forth slowly around Seto with his eyes never leaving the young one. "Do you think playing will help you complete the task?"  
  
With a nervous smile growing on his face Seto nodded. "Yes sir."  
  
"Well you're wrong! Playing will only distract you. It has no purpose. Now go do what I told you to do and stop wasting my time with such idiotic thoughts of going outside!" He pointed at the door and his hard glare locked directly onto Seto who slowly backed his way out of the room.  
  
"I-I'm sorry sir. I'll do better. Forgive me."  
  
"Forgiveness is for weaklings."  
  
Seto then finally exited the room and shut the door behind him. Walking down the hall with his head hung down he went into his room and sat at the computer again and started typing while he glanced out the window at the sun shining outside every so often and sighed. Then shaking his head he'd go back to typing. Finally after he had redone the original assignment to what he thought would be to Gozaburo's liking he started the other one. Sitting there he tried to come up with an idea of what to make it do while he still glanced out the window. He saw a bird fly by and then his face perked up and he started typing away quickly with a smile on his face.  
  
****************  
  
Hours later Gozaburo got up from his desk and walked down the hall and into his trainee's room. When he walked through the door he say Seto laughing happily as he was obviously playing some sort of game on his computer.  
  
Walking up behind him the older man stared at the screen and watched as Seto continued without noticing his presence.  
  
Gozaburo then gripped onto Seto's shoulder, a little painfully I might add, and then swiveled the young one's chair around so he was staring up at him.  
  
Seto sat there blinking in shock as the game behind him kept going and then a big "Game Over" flashed over the screen.  
  
"What do you think you are doing?"  
  
The young one managed to stutter. "W-what you t-told me to do s-s-sir."  
  
Gozaburo leaned over and looked at the screen. "I told you to make a program, not to play some silly game."  
  
Seto wrung his hands. "B-but I did. This is it?" He pointed at the screen and then clicked a button so it went to a different one and a title of "Bird Brain" flashed across as a little picture of a bird flew up out of the background and smashed into the screen and then slowly slid down the face of it. "It has these birds. and y-you have to stop them crashing into the window with your net, b-but if you miss too many then you loose. A- after you collect so many points then you go onto the next level, a-and the birds come faster. I-it keeps getting harder and different birds come at d- different speeds and are different colors. And if you catch a c-crow. then you loose. A-and then when-"  
  
"That's enough!"  
  
Seto cringed as Gozaburo raised his voice.  
  
"I told you to create something USEFUL, unlike you. Not some childish plaything. The title seems very appropriate, especially since one created it. Now erase this garbage and do it again. If you don't then I'm afraid I'll have to take away all your free time until you get it right." He glared at the young one and stomped out the door leaving a thoroughly cowed Seto sitting in his chair.  
  
With little tear rolling down his cheek Seto curled up in a ball and hugged his legs to his chest. "I-I'm s-sorry s-s-sir. I-I'll do b-better." slowly uncurling himself he scooted his chair back underneath the table and started typing away again trying desperately to make another program that he prayed would be to Gozaburo's liking. "I-I'll d-do better. I-I can fix it. I'll m-make s-sure it's useful."  
  
*******************  
  
Kaiba ground his teeth together. 'Those stupid programs. I must have made hundreds of them trying to get it just right. Nothing satisfied him, he always wanted more. And even if I did something worthy of his expectations he'd never acknowledge it and he'd always tell me that I could do better. I hated him. I HATED him. The damn bastard, I hope he's burning in hell!' With an aggravated growl he stood up and kicked the chessboard spilling all the pieces across the floor. "Stupid chess. This is YOUR fault!" He pointed an accusing finger at the pieces. "It's your fault my life is wrecked! It's all your fault!"  
  
Leaning down he started picking up the pieces again and put them back inside the chessboard. 'What am I doing? I'm blaming little pieces of wood. That's what I'm doing. How idiotic can I get? They're inanimate objects.' He slammed the box closed and went and traveled down the stairs where he shoved it back into the closet. 'Talking to rocks, talking to wood, what next? Water?' He shook his head and ran back upstairs into his room where he fell onto his bed and looked out the window. 'What an interesting concept it is that people blame their problems on things that generally could really have nothing to do with it. They blame people and other objects. It's actually pretty stupid. Why are people such morons that they can't take responsibility for their own actions?' He started chuckling slightly. 'I'm one to talk. I've been blaming other people as well. When it's really my fault. All my fault. Of course it's my fault. Why wouldn't it be?' Getting up he walked over to his desk and pulled the knife out of his desk again without really thinking.  
  
Slightly automatically and with a little smirk he placed the blade onto the back of his other arm and started making a whole bunch of horizontal lines across. As he slowly went down his arm he zoned out into his own thoughts and didn't notice the slow rotation of his arm that was taking place until.  
  
He felt a sharp pain in his wrist and looked down at it. With his eyes spreading wide he dropped the knife out of his hand and stared at the blood seeping out. He sat down on the bed and continued staring at it. 'Did I- Is it- I couldn't have- Oh my god.' He mouthed the last words and then leaned over his bed and grabbed the phone. 'Tea. Need help. Must. Call. Tea.'  
  
Shaking slightly he punched in the number as he continued staring at his sliced arm.  
  
"Hello. Who is it?"  
  
"T-Tea. You, come here, I need, please." He began to shake more noticeably now as more blood poured out of his hand.  
  
"Seto? What's wrong?"  
  
"Knife, didn't mean to. help."  
  
"Ok. Just hang on, I'll be right over."  
  
He then turned off the phone and placed it next to him as he walked over to the door. "Bad, very bad, blood, death, pain. Help, need." His mind wasn't functioning as he shakily twisted the doorknob and started walking down the hall heading for the stairs. Just as he was reaching the top of the stairwell Mokuba popped out of his room.  
  
"Oh hi Seto. Hey. are you ok?"  
  
Kaiba started walking down the stairs, "No. Accident, Tea coming, hospital."  
  
Mokuba slowly followed his brother down the stairs with a worried expression on his face. "What happened?"  
  
"Bad, blood, knife."  
  
Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs Seto sat down and leaned against the wall while clutching at his bleeding wrist for a brief while before he got up again and walked into the front hallway. Still clutching at his wrist he slid down the wall and sat again and waited until he heard the doorbell ring. Without looking up he spoke to Mokuba as he continued shaking. "Tea, door, get, please."  
  
Mokuba then ran over and opened it. Tea was standing there with a worried look on her face. "Where's Seto?"  
  
Backing up he pointed at the quivering form sitting against the wall.  
  
Tea went and kneeled down beside him. "Seto, what's wrong?"  
  
"Wr-wrist, bleeding, can't s-stop, help." He stared over at her with his lip quivering. "H-hospital, need, g-go, please, now."  
  
She stroked the side of his head gently. "Ok, I'll take you. Can you stand?"  
  
He nodded and got up and walked out the door with Tea following. Just before she left Mokuba grabbed onto her arm.  
  
"Is my brother gonna be okay?"  
  
Tea patted his head. "Don't worry Mokuba. Once we get him to the hospital they'll fix him so he's just fine."  
  
He gave her a brief hug. "Please take care of him."  
  
With that Tea ran out the door and got herself and Kaiba into the car and drove speedily off to the hospital.  
  
****************  
  
Pulling up in front of the building she helped Seto out of the car, who by this time had lost quite a bit of blood and was getting very light-headed. Walking into the hospital she let Seto sit in one of the chairs where he sat squeezing his hand hard on his wrist trying to stop the blood while also calming himself and getting his hand covered in the red liquid.  
  
It took Tea a very short time to talk to the nurse and then walked over to Kaiba where she helped him up and walked him off into the hospital.  
  
****************  
  
At home Mokuba was having a small anxiety attack. He was pacing around the house running from room to room while pulling at his hair. After making a big circle around about six times he went and sat down in the kitchen where he tapped his foot approximately five million times. He then went and grabbed the phone where he dialed a number.  
  
'Ring.' Fidget, fidget. 'Ring.' Fidget, fidget. 'Ring.'  
  
"Turtle Game Shop, how may I help you?"  
  
"CanIPleaseTalkToYugi?"  
  
"This is he. who is this?"  
  
"It'sMokubaAndI'mHavingAMajorSpazzAttackBecauseTeaJustTookSetoToTheHospitalA ndIDon'tKnowWhatToDoWithMyselfAndI'mWorriedButCan'tDoAnythingAnd-"  
  
"Wa-wai-wait a minute Mokuba. Slow down. What?"  
  
Still fidgeting like crazy he tried again. "Seto's at the hospital, Tea just took him. I'm going out of my mind and I can't do anything about it."  
  
"Why's he at the hospital?"  
  
"I think he slit his wrist or something. He was talking all funny and I couldn't really understand what he was saying."  
  
"H-how did that happen?"  
  
"I don't know! He just was going down the stair all shaky and freaked out and then when Tea got here she asked what was wrong and he said, 'Wrist, bleeding, can't stop-' and all weird like that. And then she took him to the hospital and I don't know whether he's going to be alright or not and I can't sit still so I thought I'd call you cause maybe you could help."  
  
"Um. well. I dunno. That's. kinda bad. Why would he do that?"  
  
Mokuba sighed and rolled his eyes. "I. Don't. Know. Stop asking me!"  
  
"Oh, sorry. There isn't anything that I can really do. All you can really do is wait I guess. If they get to the hospital quick enough then everything should be fine. I don't think you need to worry about it That much."  
  
The young Kaiba shook his head and continued to tap his foot quickly. "Okay then. Thanks Yugi. TalkToYouLater. Bye!"  
  
Hanging up the phone Mokuba jumped up and started running through the kitchen cabinets until he found some gum, which he pulled out en-masse and start cramming pieces in his mouth and chewing like crazy.  
  
*****************  
  
((*giggle giggle* teehee. teehee. Can you guess where THIS is gonna go? Sorry, I'm having a little spout of madness and making Mokuba this fidgety was making ME twitch so I just HAD to do something to him. Well anyway, that's the chapter, hope you liked it ^_^ It plays part in my almighty plan to end this fic. I'll find some way or another to stop it eventually. but these things take time you know =P and here I go again rambling on when there is writing to be done! Ok then, I shut up and stop torturing you all. Keep reviewing! Keep reading!)) 


	23. Lunchtime

Both Seto and Tea walked back into the mansion later that night. Kaiba was rubbing at the bandage wrapped around his wrist and Tea shook her head at him.  
  
"I still don't understand how you did that to yourself."  
  
With a slight smile he sighed. "I already told you. I wasn't really thinking and it just sort of happened before I realized it. Believe me. I didn't want this to happen."  
  
Rolling her eyes she put her hands on her hips and stared at him. "I can't believe you wouldn't notice something like that."  
  
"I did notice. just kind of after, that's all."  
  
Continuing to walk inside the house they went into the kitchen where a head of pink hair ran up and hugged Kaiba.  
  
"Yay! You're back!"  
  
Taking his hand Seto put it in Mokuba's hair and pulled it up as the stuff stuck to it. "Mokuba, what happened to your head?"  
  
With a sheepish grin Mokuba backed up and looked at them. "Well it's actually sort of funny. You see when you guys left I was really worried and stuff so I ran around the house a couple of times and then called Yugi, and after that I found this packet of gum in the cabinet and-"  
  
"That's gum?"  
  
With another tiny smile Mokuba stared at the ground and kicked his feet. "Um. yeah."  
  
Seto ran his hand down his face. "Oh my god." He sighed, "I'll get the scissors."  
  
Mokuba watched his brother walk out of the room and looked at Tea with despair. "What is he getting the scissors for?"  
  
"For you."  
  
"F-for me?" His eyes grew wide. "He's not gonna cut this junk out of my hair is he?"  
  
She shrugged and smiled slightly. "What else can we do? There's just too much of it to take out normally. We have to cut it out."  
  
Seto then returned with the scissors and walked over to Mokuba. "Okay kid. Sit down, let's get to work."  
  
Mokuba reluctantly walked over to the chair and sat down with a pathetic face that expressed EXTREME dislike of what was going to happen.  
  
Kaiba poked his finger at the sticky gum again and sighed before he took the scissors and started snipping away at the gooey mess that had planted itself in his brother's hair.  
  
**************  
  
About half and hour later Mokuba got up out of the chair and looked into the mirror Tea had gotten for him, on the verge of tears. "My hair. it's all gone."  
  
Seto patted him on the head. "Come on little guy. Don't be so sad. It's not ALL gone, you still have at least an inch or two."  
  
This comment caused Mokuba to break out crying. "I want it back!" Running up the stairs into his room he slammed the door and plopped down onto his bed.  
  
**************  
  
Downstairs Seto sighed. "It doesn't look that bad. Does it?" He glanced over at Tea who shrugged.  
  
Walking over to him she slid her arms around his neck and smiled. "Don't worry about it. Hair grows, and he'll probably actually like the change after a bit."  
  
Shaking his head Kaiba sighed again. "Hope so. The one bad thing about gum. It's practically impossible to get out any other way."  
  
((Hehe, I'm sorry peeps about this, it's kinda out of the swing of things. but I think a little humor never really hurt anybody, right? And Mokuba's crying at least, hehe, is that a good thing? ::shrugs:: Awe well.))  
  
***************  
  
The next day at lunch at school Kaiba went over to his normal corner as usual. Still rubbing at his wrist just as a sort of nervous habit he sent his gaze over at Tea's table and watched the merry crew chat away, of course, merrily. ((Erg, I think I drank too much Coca-Cola)) Sighing slightly he thought about how Mokuba was doing with his new hairstyle. He had insisted upon wearing his hat so as to hide it, but Seto wasn't quite sure how long he'd be able to wear that for. Chuckling slightly he smiled and closed his eyes as he thought about how last night had gone into play. He accidentally cuts his wrists and calls Tea over, she shows up and rushes him off to the hospital, they have a pretty good time talking considering they're in an emergency room and start bonding again, and then when they come home little Mokuba has covered himself in chewing gum. It was kind of humorous actually, who would think that from something bad that something good could come out of it. 'Maybe life isn't so bad after all.' He continued smiling and kept looking over at Tea. 'Do I dare?' He shrugged and stood up. 'What the hell. I'm feeling optimistic, maybe it won't be so bad.'  
  
Walking over to the table that had been attracting his attention he slid down into the seat next to Tea as they continued with their conversation not noticing him.  
  
"Grandpa just got in a new shipment of duel monsters cards today, do you guys wanna check them out?"  
  
Joey shrugged, "Sure, why not. Maybe I'll even be able to snag a few, still trying to get my deck as good as yours Yug."  
  
Yugi smiled at this. "The only reason my deck is so good is because Grandpa gave it to me. You'd have a good deck too if he gave you more cards, but you're still are a pretty decent duelist even without the best cards Joey."  
  
Tristan grinned. "He's definitely a lot better than he was when he started."  
  
'Fido used to be worse? How pathetic.' Seto continued listening as the conversation progressed.  
  
"Hey, it wasn't my fault. Gramps did help a lot by teachin' me though."  
  
"It took long enough for all of it to sink into that thick head of yours though." Tea giggled.  
  
'You can say that again.' Kaiba gave a little smile.  
  
"Come on, I wasn't that bad. It just kinda took a bit to actually understand what all that stuff was about." The blonde looked over at his short friend. "How'd you learn so quick Yug?"  
  
He shrugged. "I guess it just didn't seem that complicated to me."  
  
'Little runt. Wait, think of Tea. Think of Tea.'  
  
"I don't understand how you can pick up all these games and I can't."  
  
Another shrug. "Just lucky I guess."  
  
Tristan grinned again. "Maybe it's just that blondes are dumber."  
  
Joey smacked him on the back of his head. "Shaddup you. It's not like you're any better at it."  
  
Bigger grin. "Do you really wanna test that?"  
  
"Yeah, why not."  
  
Tristan nodded over at Yugi. "Hey can I borrow your deck?"  
  
"Hey. That's cheatin'! You can't use Yugi's deck!"  
  
"But I forgot my cards." Innocent little smile.  
  
"No you didn't, I saw you shuffling them five minutes ago."  
  
"Um. those were my baseball cards?"  
  
"Baseball cards my a-"  
  
Just then the bell rang and Kaiba got up and walked inside as Joey's gaze suddenly noticed him. Looking back at the gang he pointed his thumb. "Was he here the whole time?"  
  
Yugi looked after him. "I dunno, I didn't see him."  
  
Tristan shrugged, "Me neither."  
  
Tea shrugged as well and went to throw out her lunch bag before she headed back to class as she smiled to herself. 'I knew he was there.'  
  
****************  
  
As soon as Tea got home that day she picked up the phone and punched in the number, as she lay down on her bed with a big smile on her face.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hiya Seto!"  
  
"Um. hey. What's up?"  
  
"Just thought I'd call, and oh yeah. It was nice having lunch with you today."  
  
"Heh, so you noticed, huh?"  
  
Her smile grew wider. "I thought it was nice."  
  
"You guys have weird conversations."  
  
Tea giggled a little. "Maybe so. but they're always good for a laugh or two."  
  
"Do you guys always pick on Joey?"  
  
"Generally. It's all in fun though."  
  
"It's too bad."  
  
She cocked her head. "What is?"  
  
"That it's in fun, or else I'd join in."  
  
Shaking her head she continued smiling happily. "Nobody said you couldn't join in anyway."  
  
"Mm. yeah. I think it might be a little awkward though."  
  
"Probably. Awe well. So hey, do you wanna come over?"  
  
"Um. sure. Give me ten minutes?"  
  
"Okay, see ya in a bit."  
  
"See ya."  
  
**************  
  
((You know something that would be very interesting to know? Where on earth are Tea's parents?! I don't know. I guess they just sort of disappeared, now I would just make them magically reappear and they were on vacation or something. but I don't think I wanna just yet. or ever. But ok, sorry for my interruption again, the little voices have still had a little too much Coca-Cola and I haven't slept at all. Ooooooooh, hey look! It's almost 6 o'clock ::waves at the sky:: Hello Sun! ^_^ I'll shut up now and try to not interrupt the fic anymore ::smacks herself:: Bad Englasu! Ok. shutting up, here you go.))  
  
***************  
  
Walking up to the front door Seto rung the doorbell and waited for Tea to answer. A few moments later she pulled open the door and smiled at him.  
  
"Hey, come on in."  
  
Stepping inside he stood in the front hall silent.  
  
Tea smiled and stared around the room. "."  
  
Seto leaned against the wall and waited for a couple of minutes until finally, "So.?"  
  
She shrugged. "I dunno."  
  
Sighing he rolled his eyes and smirked. "Anything new been happening?"  
  
"Not especially, it's been kinda dull. 'Cept for that little stunt you pulled last night."  
  
"I didn't pull it. It was an accident. I told you."  
  
"Suuuuuuuure it was." She smiled a little and went and pulled him into the living room where they both sat down on the couch. There was another long silence as they both sat there uncomfortably until Kaiba spoke up.  
  
"Um. so. what now?"  
  
"Well, we could go out and do something?" She glanced over at him and bit her lip and watched him smile where she then cocked her head to the side. "What is it?"  
  
"Oh. nothing."  
  
She stared at him. "No really. what is it? Tell me."  
  
He smiled again and leaned back into the couch corner. "You look kind of cute when you're unsure."  
  
She cocked her head again. "Really?"  
  
With another smile he chuckled a little. "Yeah, you really do."  
  
Sliding over on the couch she leaned down in his lap and smiled. "That's a nice thing to know. I guess I'll have to be unsure more often."  
  
Brushing her hair away from her face gently with his hand he continued smiling. "Yeah, I guess you will."  
  
Closing her eyes, Tea sighed. "So what do you want to do?"  
  
"This is nice." His smile grew slightly as he gazed down at her and continued sliding her hair through his fingers.  
  
Opening her eyes she grabbed his hand and looked at it. "You know what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You have really nice hands."  
  
This caused another chuckle and he rubbed her hand with his thumb. "So do you. And you know something else?"  
  
She shrugged and he locked eyes with her and took his other hand and started twirling her hair again.  
  
"You have really beautiful eyes." He lowered his voice to a point of soothingly low and then leaned down to meet his lips with hers.  
  
Pulling herself up and wrapping her arms around his neck she lengthened the moment. Then resting her forehead on his she smile. "You know what else, else?"  
  
"What?" He bobbed noses with her,  
  
"You're a reeaally good kisser." She pulled him into another kiss as she sighed and closed her eyes as they pulled each other close and tried to make it last for as long as they possibly could until they both pulled away breathing a little heavily.  
  
Seto looked at Tea with his eyes half closed and smiled a slightly playful smile as he pulled his legs up onto the couch so they were both laying horizontally on the cushions. Wrapping his arm around her waist he leaned his head onto hers. "Tea.?"  
  
"Mm?"  
  
"What made you like me?"  
  
She leaned her head against his chest and ran her finger along his shirt collar. "A couple of things."  
  
"Like?"  
  
"I guess the main reason was when I saw you lying on the couch all depressed. You sorta became a normal person then."  
  
"Oh."  
  
She looked up at him. "Is there something wrong with that?"  
  
He shook his head. "No, not really. no."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Y-yeah. It's fine. just fine."  
  
"Okay, tell me. What is it?"  
  
"I was just thinking that maybe you only sort of like me. out of pity." He flashed a brief smirk and glanced sideways at the floor.  
  
"Oh."  
  
He shook his head and shrugged. "Yeah, just forget about it. It was stupid, I shouldn't have even mentioned it." He leaned his head back atop Tea's and sighed.  
  
Blinking slowly Tea thought about what he'd said for a minute before shaking it out of her head. 'No. That's silly.'  
  
"Hey, I have another question."  
  
She looked up at him again. "And that is?"  
  
"Where are your parents?"  
  
((Well so much for forgetting about them. awe well. I guess it was just bugging me a little too much ::shrugs:: ))  
  
She giggled some, "Oh yeah. They're taking a cruise right now."  
  
"How long for?"  
  
"About for two months or so I think. They'll probably be back in like a we- "  
  
((^_^ I'm so evil))  
  
The door slammed. "Tea?! We're home honey!" 


	24. I'm Done

Tea sat bolt upright with the eyes bugging out of her head. "Oh. My. God." She looked at Kaiba and then through the opening into the front hall and then back at Kaiba. "You, hide somewhere."  
  
With a slightly confused expression he sat up as well. "Why?"  
  
"Because. I'm not supposed to have anyone other than Yugi, Joey, and Tristan over when they aren't home. And unless you didn't tell me, you aren't one of them. So you have to hide or I'll be like grounded for life."  
  
"Oh. That's a reason." Looking around him briefly he finally picked the point of closest escape. under the couch.  
  
Tea watched him crawl under it and then scampered out into the hall where she stared at her parents who were lugging in their suitcases. "Hey Mom. Hey Dad. Welcome Back!"  
  
Her mom looked up from pulling in a big bag. "Hello dear. Would you mind giving me a hand?"  
  
Tea nodded and helped to drag in all the suitcases and other various bags from the car and into the house. Placing the last plastic bag full of souvenirs on top of the pile she sighed and smiled at them. "Aren't you guys back a little early?"  
  
Her dad smiled and gave her a hug. "Not by much Tea. Haven't been having any parties while we were gone were we?" He tweaked her nose playfully and then started hauling the bags upstairs. The whole family then chipped in and moved everything that was going to be up into the master bedroom. All the while Tea was somewhat grinding her teeth nervously and kept thinking about Seto lying underneath the couch.  
  
After everything was upstairs Tea went back downstairs with her family. Everyone headed into the living room and Tea bit her lip as she watched her father sit down on the couch and a muffled grunt came from underneath.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
Tea smiled and looked at her father looking totally innocent. "What was what?"  
  
Her father waved his hand. "Nah, I just thought I heard something. So what have you been up to Tea? Doing good at school I hope while we've been gone."  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, I have. I've basically been hanging out with the guys, doing homework, the usual. you know?"  
  
Her mother smiled and headed for the kitchen. "I'd better get dinner started."  
  
Tea then looked to her father who picked up the remote and turned on the TV. "I haven't had a good dose of television ever since we left." And with a big sigh he leaned into the couch and started watching the screen.  
  
Inwardly groaning Tea wrung her hands. "I'm gonna go do my homework." And she ran upstairs into her room and started doing her work as she nervously chewed away at her pencil. 'I hope he's okay. It can't be the best thing for him to be underneath that dusty old couch. Who knows how long he's gonna be stuck down there.' She pressed the eraser against her forehead. 'Well, I can't really do anything about it now. Just chill Seto, I'll get you outta there as soon as I can.'  
  
******************  
  
Just Kaiba's luck, Tea's family decided to be special and eat dinner in the living room that night. ((::giggle giggle:: That's my fault! ^^)) After the meal her parents went upstairs to unpack their bags and Tea finally was able to duck down to the couch and lift up the little cloth flap to look at the captive underneath.  
  
"Seto?"  
  
He turned his head to look at her. "Can I come out now?"  
  
She nodded and then he crawled out from underneath the piece of furniture and started brushing all the dust balls off himself. Tea couldn't help but giggle at the site of Kaiba being covered in dust and other such couch lint. He sent a small glare her way. "You guys really need to clean under there."  
  
She put her hand over her mouth and continued her giggling. "I know."  
  
Crossing his arms and tapping his finger he stared at her as the dust still managed to cover him even though he'd done his best to brush it off. "It's not THAT funny you know?"  
  
With a smile she went on with her giggling fit helplessly, "I'm sorry. It's just." Tears started streaming out of the sides of her eyes as she clutched at her stomach. "You' e all gray... and covered. "Even your skin."  
  
Taking his hand he ran it across his cheek and then looked at it and saw it was covered in the dusty powder. "Well. If your dad hadn't been sitting on me the whole time I might not be so covered. He's really heavy, did you know that?"  
  
With another little giggle she was about to say something when a shout came from upstairs.  
  
"Tea?! Is somebody there?!"  
  
"No Mom!" She turned back to Kaiba headed towards the door with him.  
  
Seto turned back to her as he stood in the open doorway. "The fact that they're home doesn't mean I don't get to see you anymore. right?"  
  
Giving him a quick kiss she smiled. "Of course not. Now get going before they come downstairs and see you."  
  
Smiling he gave her a little salute. "Aye-aye ma'am." And with a chuckle he turned and started walking down the street away from the house and back to his mansion.  
  
******************  
  
((Thinks about what she can do in the sequel ::brainstorm:: Ooooooooh, I likey ^_^ ::scrambles like a maniac to try and find some way to tie this off:: Okie den, hehe =) I type the rest of this chap now.))  
  
******************  
  
Wednesday, the next day of school, Kaiba walked into the lunchroom. He looked at Tea's table, then his corner, table, corner, and then table again. 'They'll notice me this time. Awe well. I'll try.'  
  
He walked over to the table and sat down next to Tea. She smiled at him and he smirked back at her. He looked around at the silent table. Tea didn't mind him, but everyone else was staring at him. Having three silent people stare at you can be unnerving, even for Seto Kaiba, a little. Closing his eyes a second he racked his brain for some middle ground that he could talk about. 'I think I liked it better when they just ignored me. Then at least I don't have all these people looking at me.' Taking a deep breath he looked at everyone at the table. "So what have you guys been up to lately?"  
  
Joey glared at him. "Why do you care?"  
  
Closing his eyes again Kaiba took a deep breath and tapped his finger lightly on the table. "It's just a question."  
  
"One that you wouldn't ask."  
  
Seto tapped his finger again and shook his head. 'Well this is going well. but I'm not leaving, I have to be able to be nice to them.' He looked at Tea who smiled at him and that sent a mental spark to his head. "Well anyway. I'll just tell you what I've been up to then. Mokuba got his hair filled with gum."  
  
Yugi being the innocent little soul he is couldn't help but ask, "When'd he do that?"  
  
"The day before yesterday. when I got back. His head was covered."  
  
Tristan couldn't help but smile. "I wonder how he accomplished that."  
  
Joey grinned. "Really big bubble?"  
  
"So how'd you get it out?" Yugi cocked his head.  
  
"Cut it."  
  
Joey broke out laughing. "Hahahahahaha! He must be bald!"  
  
"No, he's not quite bald, but he won't go outside of the house without a hat on." Seto smirked. 'So this is what it's like. I guess it's not that hard to have a normal conversation with other people. even if there is no real point to it. I guess it is sort of funny. Especially since these people wouldn't even have given me the time if I had asked this morning.'  
  
Tristan smiled evilly. "Maybe you should take his hat away for a day just to see how he'd react. He'd probably have a spazz attack and then go get high on some sugar cubes."  
  
Everyone laughed at this, and Kaiba gave a little chuckle. 'Maybe there is a reason not to exclude yourself after all.'  
  
*****************  
  
Walking up into his room that afternoon Kaiba looked at the knife that was laying on top of his desk. Still with a slight smile plastered on his features from earlier today he picked up the blade and took it downstairs. Putting it in the kitchen sink he carefully washed it off with soap and hot water before he placed it in one of the drawers. Then running back up into his room he grabbed the pair of scissors and went and put them inside the drawer of his office desk with all the tape. Traveling back to his room once again he pulled out a bunch of things from his desk as he continued making trips back and forth as he returned the objects. He put back a pocket knife, two more pairs of scissors, three various different kinds of hand guns, a lighter, a bag of nails, a claw hammer, four or more other kinds of knives. You get the idea ((^_^))  
  
Walking out onto the balcony he leaned against the railing and pulled his phone out of his pocket and punched in Tea's number.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Hi Seto. What's up?"  
  
He breathed a happy sigh and looked out at the water. "I'm done."  
  
"With what?"  
  
"I just took everything out of the desk in my room and put it back where it belongs. I think I'm going to try and deal with my problems in a less deadly way from now on."  
  
On the other end little fireworks shot up inside Tea's mind and a huge parade began. "That's great!"  
  
He chuckled, "I also wanted to tell you something."  
  
"Mm?"  
  
"Thank you. for saving me. I don't think I could have gotten through this by myself."  
  
She smiled. "No problem Seto. No problem."  
  
((And guess what??? THAT'S IT!!! THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL OF IT!!! NO MORE!!! FIN!!! THE END!!!! * scampers around with a huge grin on her face it * I'm doooone, I'm dooooone, I'm dooooone, I'm doooone. Don't worry all you people who want more Kaiba, there will be more. Gonna make a sequel. I HAVE to make a sequel. it wouldn't be right if I didn't ^_^ I hope all of you people enjoyed reading this one. I sure had fun writing it. all 119 pages of it. And thank you to all you people who reviewed for me and made me feel loved, it makes people happy to feel loved 3 It's amazing what a difference it can make in your mood to have people wanting you to write more. * smiles a happy smile * I'm all of you people's biggest fan, and if I could I'd buy you all whatever you wanted. but I can't. so my little tiny Thank You will have to do. I'll try and get the sequel posted up soon so you people won't have to wait. Now Englasu says Bon-voyage! * waves * I hope to see you all at my other fics! Have a good day/year/forever depending on when I next communicate with any of you individually or as a group ^^ Well that's it now. No more. * Gathers up her huge stack of papers and puts them in a binder as she tucks them under her arm and walks away * BYE EVERYONE!!!)) 


	25. ((Author's Note))

((This is just a nice happy post to tell all of my fans and other random people that the sequel to "Walking Through Despair" will have the title of "Adjusting From Ignorance" I've already posted the first chapter, so please get to reading and reviewing ^_^ .. Just a note, I probably won't be updating is as quickly as I have been this one, I have to write the chapters to come ahead of time and I don't want to run out, teehee. Well ANYway, I'll see you all later at the new fic * waves * Bub-byez!)) 


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